This is an incredibly rare and special American Indian pipe and stem dating to circa 1860 with an extensive collection history and documentation accompanying it. The piece is from the renowned Gordon Hart collection with supporting documentation, Hart C.O.A. along with appearing in his book and has also been pictured in a 2009 book. The pipe is made of hand-carved red Minnesota pipestone commonly referred to as “catlinite” and features an extraordinary artful pewter inlays with a forward-facing prow and inlaid keel fin. The stem is made of ash wood and has an extensive hot file branding over its entire length with a deep authentic honest patina. The piece has been immaculately preserved showing no breaks or repairs. The piece was first collected by Dr. William Slaght of Grand Blanc, Michigan while working as a doctor in western Wisconsin in 1882. He reported acquiring the pipe from the son of a Sioux Indian who said the pipe had belonged to his father, whom Slaght had been treating for pneumonia. The father died, but the son wanted Slaght to keep the pipe in exchange for treating his father. Later Slaght, who had to Michigan, sold the pipe to a fellow medical professional named Dr. Joseph Ingram of Fenton, Michigan. Then later it was sold to artifact collector and author Arthur G. Abraham of Indiana in 1906. A.G. Abraham preserved the pieces history at this point documenting its collection and drawing a sketch of the piece in his collection logbook. Copies of these pages are included in the lot. Gordon Hart acquired the pipe from Abraham in 1967 and later Hart sold the pipe to author and collector Mark Francis in 1999. Gordon Hart (1917-2002) was a well-respected pipe and artifact collector and author from Indiana. Hart was a pillar of the artifact collecting community for over 30 years, appearing at hundreds of artifacts shows and writing countless articles and various books, his best known being the two large hardback volumes titled, “Hart’s Prehistoric Pipe Rack”. The pipe measures 6 ½ inches long by 3 inches tall and the stem measures 18 ½ inches long. Provenance: Sioux Indians in Wisconsin Pre-1882 Dr. William Slaght of Grand Blanc, Michigan and Wisconsin owned from 1882-1901 Dr. Joseph Ingram of Fenton, Michigan owned from 1901-1906 Arthur G. Abraham of Indiana owned from 1906-1967 Gordon Hart of Indiana owned from 1967-1999 Mark Francis of Ohio owned from 1999-Present Featured on the cover of the 2009 book “The Mark Francis Collection of American Indian Art” by Mark Francis and pictured on page 57 figure 101. Certificate or Document giving authenticity from The Hart Collection item S-143