SOLD
2,200.00USD+ buyer's premium + applicable fees & taxes.
This item SOLD at 2020 Oct 31 @ 10:38UTC-6 : CST/MDT
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Offered for public sale is a rare and important pipe tomahawk attributed to the Sioux Ghost Dance of 1890 of the Eastern Santee Sioux and formerly owned by a Cheyenne, Little Bear. Provenance: The piece was originally collected by Dr. Charles Eastman who acquired the tomahawk from Little Bear of the Cheyenne Indians at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation sometime near the turn of the century. Dr. Eastman donated the weapon to Father Joseph Ward’s Yankton Indian College Museum where it remained on display until the museum closed in 1984. During the museum deaccession the contents were purchased by Piedmont, South Dakota artifact dealer Jim Aplan. Aplan sold the tomahawk later to Cyrus Eaton of London, England in 1985. The tomahawk features a hand-forged iron head with tall bowl, forged moldings and chevrons with filed lines and a large long tapering blade that exhibits a rare four-point morning star cut out surrounded by four circular full moon piecing’s. This style of morning star and the cutouts exhibited on this piece have been documented as known Ghost Dance symbols. The pipe axe head shows a diamond shaped eyelet or eye hole and is paired with an ash wood haft handle with extensive hot file brandings and brass trade tack bands. The head is secured to the haft with an old thick buckskin gasket. Just below the gripping area of the tomahawk shows a spurred out pierced section holding a drop tied with Indian tanned hide lacing and is comprised of a strip of brain-tanned Buffalo hide with typical Sioux beaded geometric patterns in glass trade seed beads also exhibiting long hand cut fringe, two strands of wound glass large sky padre blue padre or pony beads with rolled tin jingle cones at the end with fringe and two strips of old red and green trade cloth tied on. The tomahawk has a nice mellow patina with expected minor wear from age and use. The piece is of a larger size of other similar third quarter-19th-century pieces. Previous collectors presumed that Little Bear already had the tomahawk which was thought to date to the Indian Wars era and contracted the blacksmith to apply the cutout symbols to the blade to use in ceremonial dance, this is of course a theory. This style of morning star with four pieced holes has not been seen on a tomahawk such as this making this a unique Ghost Dance example with nice collection history. Provenance recap: Owned by Little Bear Cheyenne Indian and is of Eastern Santee Sioux origin, ex-collection of Reverend Joseph Ward, ex-collection of the Yankton Indian College Museum from its nearly 70-80 year collection, ex-collection Dr. Charles Eastman, ex-collection of Jim Aplan of Piedmont, South Dakota, ex-collection of Cyrus Eaton of London, England. Published in the 2020 book "Rare American Indian Weapons Volume 2" by Mark Francis on page 95. The head measures 12 ½ inches long by 4 ¼ inches wide across the bottom of the blade. The tomahawk overall is 24 inches in length
Auction Location:
34156 E Frontage Rd, Bozeman, Montana, 59715, United States
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No sales tax in Montana
Buyer's Premiums:
| From (Incl.) | To (Excl.) | Premium |
| 0.00 |
Infinite |
23% |
Additional Fees:
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