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Athabascan Knife & Pony Beaded Sheath

Currency:USD Category:American Indian Art / Art - Bead Work Start Price:1,300.00 USD Estimated At:2,000.00 - 3,000.00 USD
Athabascan Knife & Pony Beaded Sheath
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Athabascan Knife & Pony Beaded Sheath. Athabascan double scroll, steel dagger, with hide sheath. Leather wrapped handle on steel forged fluted knife, two volute (scroll) handles with openwork terminals. The sheath is of native tanned hide with cloth trim and large sideways pony beads, with smaller cobalt and white beads. Sheath is 10 ½”, knife is 12 ?”, circa 1880s.
“Long knives with flaring, voluted handles were used for both hunting and fighting. They were originally made from copper obtained through the native trade system; later examples collected in the 1860s are made of trade steel and are rare. Lashed to wooden poles, they were used by especially daring hunters to kill bears."
--"Crossroads of Continents: Cultures of Siberia and Alaska,” Washington D. C., Smithsonian Institution Press, 1988, p. 229.