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Sauk & Fox or Otoe Missouri War Axe Tomahawk 1820-

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:25.00 USD Estimated At:4,000.00 - 8,000.00 USD
Sauk & Fox or Otoe Missouri War Axe Tomahawk 1820-
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Offered for public sale is this very rare and early circa 1820-1830 Central Plains Sauk & Fox or Otoe region Missouri War Axe Tomahawk. The piece shows a blacksmith hand forged iron head which shows four crude and rare cutouts in the center of the blade showing three small circles in a vertical pattern and a large half-moon underneath. The Halfmoon, star or circular cutouts pre-date the weeping hear cutouts which didn’t appear on tomahawk blade until the 1840-1850’s. This design of Missouri War Axe is very documented with the piece being very similar to the example in the hands of Sauk & Fox Chief “Bear in the Forks of a Tree” as shown in the Karl Bodmer painting from the 1830’s (a digital image is shown for comparison). The head has old forging nicks and dings and is secured onto the hard wood haft handle with old hide gaskets and two old square head iron nails pounded in through each side of the eyelet hold (an early manner of securing the head to the haft, not often seen). The wooden haft is original and has yellow ocher mineral pigment paint which ahs faded to a lighter hue over time and has flaked off some from age & use. The term "Missouri War Axe" was coined by American Indian weapons collectors to describe this particular style of tomahawk. They were first discovered by Lewis & Clark on their 1804-1805 expedition financed by Thomas Jefferson, which sent them exploring up the upper Missouri River basin. Meriwether Lewis wrote about these weapons and sketched one in his journal, stating that the local Indians were fervently requesting the expedition blacksmith to make additional examples for them. He went as far as to state that it was the only item the Indians were willing to trade corn, grain and other expedition necessities for and that manufacture and trade of additional axes is what solely got the explorers through the winter of 1805. Provenance: From a prominent War Axe Collection, the very same collection as the Mandan Missouri War Axe that sold in our 4/27/2019 sale for $12,500. Overall the piece measures 20 inches long and shows a head that is 8 ½ inches by 5 ½ inches wide across the bottom of the wide, flaring blade.