This is a rare and early American Indian Spontoon War Tomahawk, circa 1830-1850. This pre-Indian Wars period piece is a rare, early pattern of spontoon head referred to as a collectors as a “knife blade spontoon” or sometimes as a “sheep’s foot spontoon”, with a large eye hole, and long, thin knife-like blade. This is a large, heavy tomahawk with a head made of blacksmith hand-forged iron that measures 10 ½ inches in length by 1 ¾ inches wide. The head has been cleaned at some point in its life and has almost no corrosion or oxidation, and only mild pitting, a common practice of early novice collectors. As on most knife blade or sheep’s foot spontoons, the inner blade edge tapers to a sharp edge. There is an artful, rear facing upward curled basal process on the top of the inner blade edge. The hard wood haft handle is adorned with extensive brass tack designs and has some wear to the finish with some staining at the gripping area. There is a long, frilly Buffalo Bison Indian tanned hide fringed wrap and drop that hangs down an additional 18 inches in length, secured to the haft with old hide glue and brass tacking. This is a rudimentary, functional early Native American weapon that shows all proper signs of age and use. These early spontoons with the upward curled basal processes were typically French made wares traded with Indian tribes along the fur trade route West through the Great Lakes region. This piece is attributed to the Mountain Apsaalooke Crow in Montana and is one of the earlier examples on the public market. Well kept condition with nice, mellow patina. Provenance: From the ex-DuPont family collection of St. Louis Missouri. Total length is 26 inches with an additional 18 inch drop and head that is 10 ½ inches long.