Tinder-bag or "skippertogan" (27 x 6 1/2 ins) of deer-skin

This tinder bag, also known as a ‘skippertogan’, is made of deer skin. Brightly coloured glass beads form unique designs on each side of the bag and long leather tassels extend from the base. The beadwork on one side features a floral design while the other has a set of triangles. It was likely produced by a member of the Cree Indigenous group in Canada.

This bag would have been used to carry fire making equipment. These bags are described as being tied to an individual’s belt, and that they would contain objects needed to start a fire, including a flint, matches, a steel or striker and tinder. The function of this bag is further demonstrated by the fact that, when it was added to the museum’s collection, it contained a small piece of flint (1937-682/954A/2). This bag was likely made by a member of the Cree, a large Indigenous group, mainly located in now Canada.

The bag is made of deer skin leather. Deer provided food, clothing and tools to Indigenous groups and many considered them kin and spiritual symbols. Intentional seed planting and controlled fires encouraged plants that attracted deer (making hunting more efficient).

This object is part of a collection of material from the match manufacturer Bryant and May, who opened their own private museum about the history of fire making at their offices in Bow, East London in the 1920s. The Bryant and May collection was cared for by Mr Miller Christie, a private collector who published a catalogue of the collection in 1926. He bought this tinder bag in July 1884, from a Cree individual, on the prairie near Swift Current, Canada. (At the time, Swift Current was recorded as part of N.W.T, Northwest Territories, but today, it is within Saskatchewan). The bag was added to the Bryant and May collection in December 1927 and is recorded in a 1928 supplement to the collection catalogue. The whole Bryant & May collection was transferred to the Science Museum in 1937.