Authenticity of stone carving at Royal B.C. Museum questioned
Posted Feb 2, 2021 1:55 am.
Last Updated Feb 2, 2021 2:00 am.
VICTORIA — A Victoria-area First Nation chief says he has been assured by the Royal B.C. Museum that steps will be taken to determine how a stone pillar declared to be an Indigenous artifact may be the recent work of a local artist.
Ron Sam of the Songhees First Nation says he was called last July when workers pulled the 100-kilogram pillar with a face off the beach.
After the story was made public last week, an artist came forward to media outlets saying he made the pillar and it disappeared off the beach where he was carving it four years ago.
Sam says he has spoken to museum CEO Jack Lohman about the pillar and the possible confusion.
Lohman says in a statement that the museum is working closely with area First Nations and is reviewing its policies with respect to historical works that surface.
Grant Keddie, the museum’s archeology curator, did not wish to discuss the pillar but said last week that it may have been the same one mentioned by First Nations’ elders to an anthropologist in the late 1800s.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 2, 2021.
The Canadian Press
