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Matching Set of Five Southern Plains Arrows

Currency:USD Category:Art Start Price:750.00 USD Estimated At:3,000.00 - 5,000.00 USD
Matching Set of Five Southern Plains Arrows
<B>Matching Set of Five Southern Plains Arrows</B></I><BR>Circa 1880<BR>Length 27 1/2 in. the longest<BR><BR>Each arrow is delicately engraved, then painted in red. Two are engraved with lightning bands, two with designs suggesting arrow points, and one with two lances - one on each side of the long, narrow point.<BR>These rare arrows can be favorably compared with several examples in the literature. A single arrow pictured as figure 3, plate XLIV in <I>North American Bows, Arrows, and Quivers</B></I> is identified as a "Gambling arrow of the Apache Indians". After a brief description, the author states "Used in divination and gambling". A similar group of five carved and engraved arrows is in the Brooklyn Museum collections. They are pictured in <I>Objects of Myth and Memory,</B></I> p. 19, and described as "Kiowa arrows made by F.H. Cushing". Frank Hamilton Cushing (1857-1900) was a pioneer ethnologist who lived with the Zuni from 1879-1884. Cushing and Stewart Culin, curator of the Brooklyn Museum, were great friends and "From Washington, Cushing provided inspiration, encouragement, and most important, examples of games and arrows, many made with his own hands". A third reference can be found in <I>Bows, Arrows, and Quivers of the American Frontier,</B></I> p. 40. This single engraved arrow is identified as Cheyenne. (Note: The Apache example from <I>North American Bows, Arrows, and Quivers</B></I> is illustrated on page 34 of this book.)<BR><BR>Provenance<BR>Richard Corrow Collection, Santa Fe, New Mexico.<BR><BR>References<BR>Mason, Otis Tufton. <I>North American Bows, Arrows, and Quivers.</B></I> Washington: Smithsonian Report for 1893. Government Printing Office, 1894. Plate XLIV.<BR>Fane, Diane, Jacknis, Ira, and Breen, Lise. <I>Objects of Myth and Memory.</B></I> The Brooklyn Museum, 1991, pp. 16-19.<BR>Baldwin, John. <I>Bows, Arrows, and Quivers of the American Frontier,</B></I> West Olive, Michigan: Early American Artistry Trading Compan