A metal vase with a mysterious past and a connection to the mining wealth of B.C. is being exhibited for the first time in this province at the Audain Art Museum in Whistler. Called the Ptarmigan vase, it’s a kind of homecoming for the expertly crafted luxury item made out of metals mined in B.C. by silversmiths who worked for Tiffany & Co in New York.
In 1901, about one ton of copper, silver and gold was mined from Tunnel 3 of the Ptarmigan Mine in the Selkirk Mountains in southeastern B.C. A year later, the ore was shipped and refined in New Jersey into seven bricks of copper, 3½ bricks of silver and one button-sized piece of gold.
The Ptarmigan vase is made from 18 thin layers of copper and silver refined from that shipment. The mixed metal laminate vase was created by a technique called mokume, a Japanese metalworking procedure that creates surfaces which resemble wood grain.