North American Auction Company
Live Auction

Threads of the West: Native Beadwork, Navajo Textiles, Navajo Jewelry & Western Art

Sat, Jan 24, 2026 11:00AM EST
  2026-01-24 11:00:00 2026-01-24 11:00:00 America/New_York North American Auction Company North American Auction Company : Threads of the West: Native Beadwork, Navajo Textiles, Navajo Jewelry & Western Art https://live.naabid.com/auctions/north-american-auction/threads-of-the-west-native-beadwork-navajo-textiles-navajo-jewelry-western-art-22140
Join North American Auction Company on January 24th for Threads of the West: Native Beadwork, Navajo Textiles, Navajo Jewelry & Western Art Auction. This is a wonderful collection of Western History, Native American Beadwork and Weapons along with fine Navajo Jewelry, Americana and more. Visit Live.Naabid.com for more details or call 800-686-4216.
North American Auction Company tucker@naabid.com
Lot 132

19th-C. Buffalo Blanket Gun & Scabbard w/ Provena.

Estimate: $8,000 - $12,000
Current Bid
$600

Bid Increments

Price Bid Increment
$0 $5
$50 $10
$100 $25
$500 $50
$1,000 $100
$2,000 $250
$5,000 $500
$10,000 $1,000
$25,000 $2,500
$100,000 $5,000

The lot features a fabulous 19th-century Plains Native American Buffalo Runner Blanket Gun with Indian hide scabbard sheath collected from the Indian Reservation on the Saskatchewan Trail by Andre Amulet a French-Canadian Forest Ranger, ex-Jack Lauer and Ken Kenowski. Professionally framed in antique barnwood with the provenance documented inside the display. The lot shows a double barrel, side-by-side percussion cap black powder shotgun with exposed side hammers from mid-1800’s. The shotgun would have been traded, an annuity or war prize on the Frontier by a Plains Native American and was subsequently cut short at the grip and barrel and further wrapped in parfleche rawhide around the foregrip at the barrel and adorned with brass trade tacks. The blanket gun (which can also be referred to as a Blanket Rifle, Buffalo Runner Gun, Canoe Gun or Blanket Pistol) has also commonly been referred to as the Buffalo Runner gun; young Indian hunters who would dress up as Buffalo and lead the Buffalo off a cliff (or Buffalo Jump), the hunter jumping to a ledge as the Buffalo fall to their death, many Buffalo Runners did not survive. Many Buffalo Runners carried shortened rifles such as this to kill Buffalo in close range. The blanket gun is paired with what appears to be an original sheath scabbard with shoulder strap comprised of Indian tanned buffalo hide showing remnants of green and red ocher / ochre mineral pigment powder paint adorned with five original U.S. Army Civil War to Indian Wars circa 1860-1880 brass uniform buttons showing the United States bald eagle seal embossed on the button. The piece shows frilled Indian hide fringes with green mineral paint, fringes of old trade clothe, a gasket of old trade clothe behind each button and feathers which are wrapped in old red trade clothe and hide tied. The piece shows rawhide lacing sewing. The rifle scabbard shows a Southern Plains to Plains design. During the U.S. Indian Wars, following the Battle of the Little Bighorn / Custer’s Last Stand many of the warriors fled from Montana to northern Canada where many eventually settled on Reservations over the coming many years including the Sioux, Lakota, Dene, Dakota, Cree Assiniboine, Saulteaux, Atsina an Blackfoot. This piece likely fled the Indian Wars of the Plains to find refuge on the Saskatchewan Trail where it was collected by Andre Amulet a French-Canadian Forest Ranger directly from the reservation. Provenance: Acquired from the Indian Reservation on the Saskatchewan Trail by Andre Amulet a French Canadian Forest Ranger from Strawbridge, Canada; ex-collection of Jack Lauer Marshalls Creek, PA in 1991; Lauer sold it to Ken Kenowski, Hawley, PA in 2003; ex-Minnesota collection, acquired from Cordier in 2016. The piece is professionally framed showing antique barnwood with a tanned leather back matting and shows the documented provenance which reads as such, “American Indian / Underblanket gun with holster, decorated with army buttons and 6 feathers (3 original in holster) purchased from Andre Amulet, French Canadian Forest Ranger from Strawbridge, Canada, (Montreal Area), who acquired this from an Indian Reservation on the Saskatchewan Trail. / Purchased by Jack Lauer, Marshalls Creek, PA in 1999 who in turn sold it to Ken Kenowski, Hawley, PA in2003. / Stock #31700”. The display is well kept and in very good condition with no major damages and measures overall 32 7/8-inches by 22.25-inches and 6.75-inches deep / thick. The gun by itself without the fringes or scabbard appears to measures approx. 19.5-inches long.

All items will ship at our North American Auction Company in-house shipping department. Please allow up to 14-21 days after a complete invoice payment is made to package and ship your purchase. After you are notified of your winning bids from our company and your item invoice is paid in full our new shipping department will contact you. Make sure when signing up with our company that your preferred shipping information is up to date as this information will be used to estimate shipping cost. Once the items have been packaged our team will contact you for shipping payment. Shipping invoices and payment will be completely separately than the items invoice. Please notify the shipping department with any alternate request or instructions at mark@naabid.com or 800-686-4216 ext. 3. For a shipping quote please contact the same information above. PLEASE NOTE a shipping quote price can fluctuate in price. Auction company is not responsible for actual shipping cost being higher than quoted shipping cost. Thank you for trusting North American Auction Co. with your bids and shipping. As our shipping department is brand new please understand that delays can be expected.