This is an outstanding knife blade war club with bird effigy pattern, attributed to the Plains Native American Indians of the Eastern Santee Sioux tribe and dating to the 19th Century. The club is expertly carved from one solid piece of wood with a long early trade knife blade inset into the haft. The top of the war club is carved and painted to look like the face of a hawk or eagle (bird). The entire club has a nice, slightly curved, carved smooth finish, which is beautifully adorned with an elaborate brass trade tack decoration in obvious designs (brass tack work typically has a meaning attributing to the maker’s tribe, origin, clan, age, history etc.). There is a large-pierced hole at the bottom, just below the slightly in curved gripping area, which likely would have held a drop of feathers or perhaps a leather wrist thong at one time. The piece is likely Eastern Santee Sioux in origin, as similar bird effigy war club can be seen from the Jim Ritchie collection attributed to the same tribe. These were likely originally used as symbolic weapons of war and later used as ceremonial pieces or dance objects. The entire piece has a nice shiny patina and exhibits exceptional art appeal and is well preserved. Provenance: The club was part of a large mid-western collection of authentic American Indian weapons from the ex-collections of Jim Dresslar, Ben Thompson, and Tom Hardy. The club measures 34 inches in length and has a single 6-inch-long blade.