This is an excellent circa 1860 Missouri War Axe pattern tomahawk attributed to the Osage Indians of Oklahoma. The piece was acquired directly from the Osage Reservation at Pawhuska, Oklahoma and was made in the 1850-1860’s period. From the ex-collections of Harold Hibben, Mark Francis, and Bob Allerton. The iron head shows a weeping heart punch out at the center of the blade with an old hard wood haft handle adorned with old red stroud cloth and brass trade tacks as well as an notch-cut stourd cloth pendant drop. This example is very similar to other red stroud cloth Osage tomahawks of the period, including Osage Chief Bacon Rind’s example at the Smithsonian Museum collection. The head appears to have been cleaned by a previous collector many years ago, a common old practice in tomahawk collecting and similar to the Bacon Rind’s piece which was also cleaned. A few similar documented examples are shown in the photo gallery for comparison. The cloth wrap has some staining and overall the piece has nice age but is well preserved. Provenance: From the ex-collection of Harold Hibben, Mark Francis, Bob Allerton. Very similar to two examples found in Harold L. Peterson's American Indian Tomahawks 1965 book; first the example on page 91 figure 47 the Mussour War Hatchet with cloth-wrapped haft, round eye fleur-de-lys stamp and punch dot design collected from the Osage; second is the piece on page 92 figure 50 the Missouri War Hatchet with bleeding heart piercing and shows tackign and is wrapped in strouding cloth in red collected from the Osage. The head measures 8 inches long and 4 inches wide across the bottom of the blade. Overall the tomahawk is 19 inches long without the drop.