Mission baskets with full representation of snake(s) are always very desirable. There are not many of them and they rarely appear on the market. This basket is fairly large and it has a wonderful patina. It is coming from a Private Collection and it is very fresh to the market.

The Mission Indians are actually a grouping of basket-weaving tribes in Southern California who lived near the various missions that the Spanish established, beginning in 1767, especially near the Southern Californian Coast. The people who wove these baskets were native to the area, originally taken by the missions to help build and take care of the church. They were converted to Christianity but they were allowed to continue making baskets in their traditional manner (see Antique Native American Basketry of Western North America by John Kania and Alan Blaugrund [Marquand Books, Seattle; 2014], pp 135-143). This particular basket appears to be from the Northern Coastal Region of California missions (Ibid), p. 140.