Relics of the American West: 1850-1920 - ONLINE ONLY
Lot 2419:
Description
These intriguing pieces appear to be a collection of ethnographic or “frontier” style tools, including a carved bone adze or hoe handle, a hand-forged iron trade axe head, and a rawhide-wrapped stone war club or “brain blocker” remnant. The bone handle features primitive decorative linear incisions, while the iron axe head displays two distinct rectangular touchmarks. In the context of 18th and 19th-century trade axes, these marks—often referred to as poinçons—frequently indicated the weight of the head or the quality of the iron (e.g., two marks for a two-pound head). While many such marks from frontier blacksmiths remain anonymous, they are diagnostic of “Biscayan” or early Hudson’s Bay style trade goods. The war club shows traditional hand-stitched rawhide construction over a weighted core. Each piece shows heavy, authentic-appearing age; the iron is deeply pitted with heavy oxidation, the bone has developed a dry, honey-colored patina with some hairline structural cracking, and the rawhide on the club is brittle with significant loss to the handle wrapping and some separation at the seams. Bone: H 12″, W 5.25″, D 1.75″; Axe: H 5.5″, W 3.25″, D 1.5″; Club: H 7.5″, W 3.25″, D 2.25″. Please see photos.
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