A pipe carved in argillite or possibly soapstone with bird, animal and human forms including bears with joined tongues and eagles.

The Haida produced many items in the 19th century carved from argillite (carbonaceous shale) as trade goods or souvenirs. These pipes were never smoked. Those produced between 1800-35 show figures carved in a Haida style, but as they were intended for sale to outsiders, they do not display heraldic representations or illustrate mythological stories in a meaningful way - unlike totem poles or mortuary posts. The iconography of full scale Haida wood carvings of this latter sort related to the lineage and prestige of powerful individuals.

The pipe forms part of a collection of ethnographic material made by Admiral Sir George Back (1796-1878). He did not visit the North West coast of North America where this item was produced, but may have obtained it from a trading post or from someone who visited this area. The item was bequeathed to Greenwich Hospital by Mrs Eliza Back in 1900. The 1913 handwritten draft catalogue lists it as being displayed in the Franklin Room, case 9, number 5 'Specimen of Carving'.