The Rare Bone China Gorgets of Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site, Williston, North Dakota

Originally, the gorget was an element of medieval body armor designed to protect the neck. With the advent of gunpowder, armor became an encumbrance yet the gorget continued in diminutive form as a badge of officer's rank. As Anglo-French colonial rivalries brought military alliances with Native Americans, the gorget and military rank as a "gorget Captain" were extended to prominent men of a tribe. Soon thereafter, fur traders adopted the metal gorget as a trade item. Archaeological investigations at Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site in North Dakota recovered gorget fragments which compositional analysis suggests are of bone china, made in 19th century Staffordshire potteries. These unprecedented gorgets may represent the fur company's attempt to introduce a more colorful and cheaper substitute for silver or other metals of intrinsic value. These bone china gorgets are a dead twig on their family tree for they bore no issue. Yet they appear to represent the climax of an artifact whose function and meaning have evolved through time from a practical male accouterment to this fragile male ornament that was poorly conceived to complement the active lifestyle of the recipients.