Meshkwadoon - Economics
The modern era frames quill boxes as a part of the tourist economy, and many boxes are sold to non-indigenous people through shops and festivals. The Lady Slipper box was purchased by the quill box collector, Katherine C. Vail (MSU Museum). This box contains a sale slip detailing its purchase from the shop Lillian's Indian Crafts for the price of $1,800. According to quillwork artist Yvonne Walker-Keshick, it takes 70 hours to quill a 3" x 2" box, thus the large size of this box sets the time investment at about 400 hours. When the profit is adjusted for a store mark-up of 100%, the artist's income is $900 (Crabtree, 1995). This works out to only $2.25 per hour, showing quillwork is a labor of love done for the continuation of culture and tradition. .