The lot features a early Indian Reservation Period pipe tomahawk with cross cutout from the Sioux of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. The tomahawk dates to the late 19th to early 20th centuries and shows an iron head with large “Cross of Lorraine” cut out at the center of the blade and an unusual, rear-facing curled basal process or “spur”. The head has forged chevrons or “V”’s with forged moldings on both sides. The pipe bowl itself is long and slender, a late-19th-century-feature, being slightly vase like with forged rings on the top and bottom. Other examples of Western pattern pipe tomahawks with the same type rear-facing upward curled basal process have been documented in tomahawks books such as “American Indian Tomahawks” by Harold Peterson figures 172 and 255; and in “Indian Tomahawks & Frontiersmen Belt Axes” by Hartzler & Knowles figures 13 and 91. The early old head is paired with a hardwood haft handle that is in the “split wood” style, as documented by tomahawk scholars and authors Peterson, Baldwin, Francis, Hartzler & Knowles etc., where the carved haft is split in half, the smoke channel carved out and the haft put back together with tree sap, wire wraps or leather bindings. This haft has a leather wrap and is adorned with brass tacking. The entire tomahawk exhibits a deep, shiny patina from honest age and use with minor and expected wear. The smoking tip appears to show additional wear from use. Truly a wonderful early Indian Reservation period circa 1890 to early 1900’s pipe tomahawk. Provenance: Original collected at Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota from the Sioux by well-known and respected artifact dealer Jim Aplan of Piedmont, South Dakota who later sold the piece to Ted & Lilly Jarvis Jackson Hole, Wyoming in the 1990’s. Tomahawk has a total length of 24 inches with the head being 9 inches in length by 3 ¼ inches wide across the bottom edge of the blade.