Hudson's Bay point blanket
Encyclopedia
A Hudson's Bay point blanket is a type of wool
blanket
traded by the Hudson's Bay Company
(HBC) in western British North America
(now Canada) and the United States
during the 18th century and 19th century. The blankets were typically traded to First Nations
and Native American
s in exchange for beaver
pelts. The blankets continue to be sold by Canada's Hudson's Bay Company and have come to hold iconic status in Canada.
, point blankets were one of the main European items sought by native peoples in exchange for beaver pelts, buffalo robes, pemmican, moccasins, and other trade goods. They were desired because of wool's ability to hold heat even when wet, and because they were easier to sew than bison or deer skins.
Wool cloth of one kind or another was traded as far back as the French regime in North America
(1500-1765), but HBC point blankets were introduced in 1780 to compete with similar blankets offered by the Montreal-based private traders. The blankets were often produced with a green stripe, red stripe, yellow stripe and indigo stripe on a white background; the four stripe colours were popular and easily produced using good colourfast dyes at that time.
From the early days of the fur trade, point blankets were made into hooded coats called capotes by both natives and French Canadian voyageurs which were perfectly suited to Canada's cold winters.
From the Hudson's Bay Company website:
from 100% wool
, are available at the Bay
to the present day in three and a half-, four-, six-, and eight-point sizes corresponding respectively to a twin-, double-, queen-, or king-sized bed. Solid colours are available, as is the famous classic pattern featuring the green, red, yellow, and indigo stripes, newly made blankets retail at between Cdn $275 and $475. Today the point blankets are made in England by John Atkinson, a sub brand of A.W. Hainsworth & Sons Ltd.
The official licencee allowed to import Hudson's Bay Blankets into the United States is Woolrich Inc. out of Pennsylvania
The Coloured stripes appear on textile products by other manufacturers including some patterns on blankets made by Pendelton mills.
-based sculptor Marie Watt
(part Seneca) has used point blankets in her sculpture work, which was exhibited in 2004 at the National Museum of the American Indian
in Washington, D.C.
.
Nowadays genuine point blankets have become very collectible and could fetch prices up to thousands of dollars. The main determinants of value include age, size, colour, pattern rarity and condition. According to HBC Heritage Services, eBay
is a good place to check current market values. Particularly collectible point blankets are the Coronation blankets; the one produced for the 1953 coronation of Queen Elizabeth II brings approximately $600 if in mint condition while examples of the even rarer, Coronation blanket dating to 1937 have sold for as high as $1300.
In 1890, HBC began adding labels to their blankets because point blankets of similar quality were being sold by HBC competitors from such manufacturers as Early's of Witney
. As the label design evolved over the years, the type of label design can be used to determine the age of the blanket.
Harold Lee Tichenor
, point blanket collector and consultant to Hudson's Bay Company has written two books on point blankets and their collectibility:
The Blanket: an Illustrated History of the Hudson's Bay Point Blanket (HBC, 2002) and A Collector's Guide to Point Blankets (Cinetel, 2003)
Wool
Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and certain other animals, including cashmere from goats, mohair from goats, qiviut from muskoxen, vicuña, alpaca, camel from animals in the camel family, and angora from rabbits....
blanket
Blanket
A blanket is a type of bedding, generally speaking, a large piece of cloth, intended to keep the user warm, especially while sleeping. Blankets are distinguished from sheets by their thickness and purpose; the thickest sheet is still thinner than the lightest blanket. Blankets are generally used...
traded by the Hudson's Bay Company
Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, or "The Bay" is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and one of the oldest in the world. A fur trading business for much of its existence, today Hudson's Bay Company owns and operates retail stores throughout Canada...
(HBC) in western British North America
British North America
British North America is a historical term. It consisted of the colonies and territories of the British Empire in continental North America after the end of the American Revolutionary War and the recognition of American independence in 1783.At the start of the Revolutionary War in 1775 the British...
(now Canada) and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
during the 18th century and 19th century. The blankets were typically traded to First Nations
First Nations
First Nations is a term that collectively refers to various Aboriginal peoples in Canada who are neither Inuit nor Métis. There are currently over 630 recognised First Nations governments or bands spread across Canada, roughly half of which are in the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia. The...
and Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
s in exchange for beaver
American Beaver
The North American Beaver is the only species of beaver in the Americas, native to North America and introduced to South America. In the United States and Canada, where no other species of beaver occurs, it is usually simply referred to as "beaver"...
pelts. The blankets continue to be sold by Canada's Hudson's Bay Company and have come to hold iconic status in Canada.
Importance to Indian trade
In the North American fur tradeNorth American Fur Trade
The North American fur trade was the industry and activities related to the acquisition, exchange, and sale of animal furs in the North American continent. Indigenous peoples of different regions traded among themselves in the Pre-Columbian Era, but Europeans participated in the trade beginning...
, point blankets were one of the main European items sought by native peoples in exchange for beaver pelts, buffalo robes, pemmican, moccasins, and other trade goods. They were desired because of wool's ability to hold heat even when wet, and because they were easier to sew than bison or deer skins.
Wool cloth of one kind or another was traded as far back as the French regime in North America
New France
New France was the area colonized by France in North America during a period beginning with the exploration of the Saint Lawrence River by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Spain and Great Britain in 1763...
(1500-1765), but HBC point blankets were introduced in 1780 to compete with similar blankets offered by the Montreal-based private traders. The blankets were often produced with a green stripe, red stripe, yellow stripe and indigo stripe on a white background; the four stripe colours were popular and easily produced using good colourfast dyes at that time.
From the early days of the fur trade, point blankets were made into hooded coats called capotes by both natives and French Canadian voyageurs which were perfectly suited to Canada's cold winters.
The value system
In the point system, the points - or small lines - stitched into the blanket denote its size, such that it need not be unfolded and measured. A common misconception is that each point indicated a quantity of beaver pelts or Hudson's Bay Company money. Blankets varied in colour and design.From the Hudson's Bay Company website:
Each blanket was graded as to weight and size using a point system. Points were identified by the indigo lines woven into the side of each blanket. A full point measured 4 - 5.5 in.; a half point measured half that length. The standard measurements for a pair of 1 point blankets was: 2 ft. 8 in. wide by 8 ft. in length; with a weight of 3 lb. 1 oz. each. Points ranged from 1 to 6, increasing by halves depending upon the size and weight of the blanket. The number of points represented the overall finished size of the blanket, not its value in terms of beaver pelts as is sometimes believed.
Current use
Point blankets, made in EnglandEngland
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
from 100% wool
Wool
Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and certain other animals, including cashmere from goats, mohair from goats, qiviut from muskoxen, vicuña, alpaca, camel from animals in the camel family, and angora from rabbits....
, are available at the Bay
The Bay
The Bay is a chain of 91 department stores that operate across parts of Canada. It is the main brand of Hudson's Bay Company , North America's oldest company. It has its headquarters in the Simpson Tower in Toronto. In French, the chain is known as la Baie, short for "Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson"...
to the present day in three and a half-, four-, six-, and eight-point sizes corresponding respectively to a twin-, double-, queen-, or king-sized bed. Solid colours are available, as is the famous classic pattern featuring the green, red, yellow, and indigo stripes, newly made blankets retail at between Cdn $275 and $475. Today the point blankets are made in England by John Atkinson, a sub brand of A.W. Hainsworth & Sons Ltd.
The official licencee allowed to import Hudson's Bay Blankets into the United States is Woolrich Inc. out of Pennsylvania
The Coloured stripes appear on textile products by other manufacturers including some patterns on blankets made by Pendelton mills.
Collectability
Many early point blankets have survived into the 21st century and have become collectors items. The OregonOregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
-based sculptor Marie Watt
Marie Watt
Marie Watt is a contemporary artist living and working in Portland, Oregon. Part Seneca, Watt has created work centered on contemporary Native American themes.-Background:...
(part Seneca) has used point blankets in her sculpture work, which was exhibited in 2004 at the National Museum of the American Indian
National Museum of the American Indian
The National Museum of the American Indian is a museum operated under the auspices of the Smithsonian Institution that is dedicated to the life, languages, literature, history, and arts of the native Americans of the Western Hemisphere...
in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
.
Nowadays genuine point blankets have become very collectible and could fetch prices up to thousands of dollars. The main determinants of value include age, size, colour, pattern rarity and condition. According to HBC Heritage Services, eBay
EBay
eBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide...
is a good place to check current market values. Particularly collectible point blankets are the Coronation blankets; the one produced for the 1953 coronation of Queen Elizabeth II brings approximately $600 if in mint condition while examples of the even rarer, Coronation blanket dating to 1937 have sold for as high as $1300.
In 1890, HBC began adding labels to their blankets because point blankets of similar quality were being sold by HBC competitors from such manufacturers as Early's of Witney
Witney
Witney is a town on the River Windrush, west of Oxford in Oxfordshire, England.The place-name 'Witney' is first attested in a Saxon charter of 969 as 'Wyttannige'; it appears as 'Witenie' in the Domesday Book of 1086. The name means 'Witta's island'....
. As the label design evolved over the years, the type of label design can be used to determine the age of the blanket.
Harold Lee Tichenor
Harold Lee Tichenor
Harold Tichenor is a Canadian multi-award winning film producer and writer and an adherent of the Baha'i Faith.-Biography:...
, point blanket collector and consultant to Hudson's Bay Company has written two books on point blankets and their collectibility:
The Blanket: an Illustrated History of the Hudson's Bay Point Blanket (HBC, 2002) and A Collector's Guide to Point Blankets (Cinetel, 2003)
External links
- Hbc Heritage - Our History - The Hbc Point Blanket
- The Witney Blanket Story - comprehensive site about the Witney blanket industry, including manufacturers of Witney point blankets
- The Point Blanket Site - a basic introduction to the history of point blankets and information on dating and evaluation