end their lives as core-collapse supernovae (SNe) [e.g., @Woosley05 and references therein]. These SNe are divided spectroscopically into subgroups based on the strength of H and He in their optical spectra. The progression from Type II to Ib to Ic corresponds to SNe having both H and He, to just He, to neither H nor He present in their spectra [for a review, see @Filippenko97]. The class of Type IIb SNe (SNe IIb) have spectra which undergo a transition from Type II to Type Ib as their H features fade with time. It is likely that SNe IIb, Ib, and Ic undergo significant mass loss, due either to stellar winds and eruptions or to mass transfer to a binary companion, before explosion.

[SN 2001ig]{} was discovered in the nearby late-type spiral galaxy by @Evans01 on 2001 Dec. 10.43 (UT dates are used throughout this paper). It is located at $\alpha_{\rm J2000} = 
22^{\rm h}57^{\rm m}30\fs 74$ and $\delta_{\rm J2000} = -41\degr02\arcmin26\farcs1$ [@Ryder01]. An explosion date of 2001 Dec. 3 has been estimated by @Ryder04 from modeling the radio light curve, and we use this as the reference date for our spectral observations throughout this paper. A spectrum was obtained within 