This is an excellent ceremonial pipe tomahawk that is a fine example of “art in the weapon featuring a buffalo and start cutout pipe tomahawk with carved handle and amazing large buffalo hide fully beaded drop all from the Lakota Sioux dating to circa 1880 collected from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and from an ex-East Coast Museum collection and Chandler-Pohrt collection. This is truly a stunning pipe tomahawk which was noted as being more of a ceremonial example used by chief’s or tribal dignitaries than as a weapon of war, maybe even a gift. The tomahawk features a hand-forged iron head with classic Western large blade showing a small rear facing spur and tall slender bowl having a tear drop eye hole. The blade shows wonderful hand cutouts including two eight-star cut outs and a large buffalo head / bison head cutout at the center. The head is attached to an ash wood cared haft handle with old hot file brandings showing a carved twisted incised line wrapping around and down the handle, further adorned with old brass metal trade tacks. The gripping area is wrapped in Indian tanned buffalo bison hide with a massive, large triangular buffalo / bison Indian hide drop covered in old glass trade seed bead beadwork in classic Sioux geometric fashion showing a tipi pictorial design at the bottom, classic late-19th century. The bottom of the drop shows a section of saw-tooth cut old red stroud trade clothe with old brass trade bead row and long frilly Indian tanned buckskin fringes. The beadwork is all old 1800’s period examples with greasy yellow, greasy chalk white, greasy blue, cobalt and semi-transparent lilac / Cheyenne pink. Provenance: From the ex-Milford Chandler and Richard Pohrt collection (very well renowned with much of their collection in the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian; Milford G. Chandler (1889-1981) and Richard A. Pohrt (1911-2005); also from the private California Native American collection; ex-East Coast Museum collection. Head measures 10-inches long, tomahawk is 22-inches long without drop, drop is 30-inches in length by itself. Noted as not being completely drilled for smoking as this was a chief’s gift or purely for ceremony, an interesting fact. Buffalo cut out or buffalo shaped pipe tomahawks are exceedingly rare and interesting. See the buffalo cutout Northern Plains pipe tomahawk from the Stanley Slocum and Drew Bay collections which sold by Cowan’s in 2020 for $7,040 and the Plains Pipe Tomahawk with Buffalo head spontoon blade also from the Chandler-Pohrt collection and offered by Cowan’s in 2014. For another example see: Harold Peterson's American Indian Tomahawks (1971: fig. 284).