Porcupine Quill Box with Buffalo Leather, Medium

Porcupine Quill Box with Buffalo Leather  Crafted from Buffalo leather and sustainably sourced porcupine quills. The quills, which regrow after shedding, are shed naturally. The quills are then collected by artisans to craft beautiful products. 

MATERIALS: Buffalo Leather and Porcupine Quills

DIMENSIONS: 7.3” L x 3.5” W x 2.5” H

FACTS & HISTORY: Porcupines from South Africa are larger than any North American porcupines, and some species quills almost half the length of their body. 

The naturalist William J. Long reported the taste of the North American porcupine as "vile" and "malodorous" and delightful only to a lover of strong cheese. With regards to a Maine state law that restricted the killing of porcupines to keep them available as emergency game for people lost in the woods, he noted: "It is undoubtedly a good law; but I cannot now imagine any one being grateful for it, unless the stern alternative were death or porcupine."

More commonly, their quills and guard hairs are used for traditional decorative clothing. For example, their guard hairs are used in the creation of the Native American "porky roach" headdress. The main quills may be dyed, and then applied in combination with thread to embellish leather accessories such as knife sheaths and leather bags. Lakota women would harvest the quills for quillwork by throwing a blanket over a porcupine and retrieving the quills it left stuck in the blanket.