This is a pendant based on a Maori albatross hook. For hooking albatross. The pendant was created by artist David Taylor and is available for sale at the link:
The design is essentially a Maori Hei Matau (
fishhook pendant). The spiritual meaning behind the hook design is one
of strength and determination. It is also a good luck charm, believed
to confer safe travel over water.
But look closer, and you see that the pendant incorporates a creature very important to the Maori - the albatross (toroa). The
Albatross represented beauty and power to the Maori, and the wearing of
an albatross pendant is believed to confer those qualities on the
wearer. Because the feathers were so scarce, only chiefly tribal
members could wear the beautiful, white albatross feathers in their
hair. The birds were caught out at sea, and every part of their body
was made use of.
People really did "fish" for albatross with hooks. At her museum job yesterday, Paperclip had to catalogue an odd-looking,
makeshift copper triangle-thingy (with a hole in the middle) labeled
"gooney hook." She researched it and discovered that it was intended
for hunting albatross off a ship cruising around Alaska. (Albatrosses
are also known as gooney-birds). This pendant was the closest I could come to a "triangular" hook like the one she found.
I have no idea how the triangular type of hook is supposed to work. Here's a more practical-looking version of the matau toroa (albatross hook) from the Auckland Museum, collection of Captain Gilbert Mair:
Albatross fishing was an important part of the aboriginal cultures of the Pacific and became a European sport as well. According to Wikipedia:
In spite of often being accorded legendary status, albatrosses have not
escaped either indirect or direct pressure from humans. Early
encounters with albatrosses by Polynesian and Aleut Indians resulted in hunting and in some cases extirpation from some islands (such as Easter Island). As Europeans began sailing the world, they too began to hunt albatross, "fishing"
for them from boats to serve at the table or blasting them for sport. This sport reached its peak on emigration lines bound for Australia,
and only died down when ships became too fast to fish from, and
regulations stopped the discharge of weapons for safety reasons. In the
19th century, albatross colonies, particularly those in the North
Pacific, were harvested for the feather trade, leading to the near
extinction of the Short-tailed Albatross.
Today, although no one intentionally fishes for albatross, ingestion of fishhooks is one of the chief threats to the albatross population.
