Offered for public sale in this lot is a rare and important Missouri War Axe Tomahawk, dating to circa 1800, from the Cyrus Eaton Collection from London, England. The tomahawk axe head shows the typical, large, flaring, triangular-shaped blade hand-forged from thin sheet iron that features a crescent half-moon cut-out in the center of the blade. The iron head shows an old, original hardwood haft handle, which shows some slight splits and drying from age and use. The axe head is secured to the haft, using five old square-shank nails. The use of square shank nails, not tacks, has been documented on early American Indian weapons, according to Peterson, Baldwin, Francis, etc. The piece is plain, showing no beaded drop, fringe, or tacks, a trait found on the earliest weapons, with the only decoration being pierced or cutouts in the blade, such as this example with the crescent half-moon cut out at the center of the blade. It has been said that pierced holes and crescent moons cutouts pre-date the weapon heart cutouts, which did not appear until some 30 to 40 years later around 1830-1840’s. The term "Missouri War Axe" was coined by American Indian weapons collectors to describe this style of tomahawk. They were first discovered by Lewis & Clark on their 1804-1805 expedition financed by Thomas Jefferson, which sent them exploring up the upper Missouri River basin. Meriwether Lewis wrote about these weapons and sketched one in his journal, stating that the local Indians were fervently requesting the expedition blacksmith to make additional examples for them. He went as far as to state that it was the only item the Indians were willing to trade corn, grain and other expedition necessities for and that manufacture and trade of additional axes is what solely got the explorers through the winter of 1805. Only a small handful of tribes were known to have used this style of tomahawk, and in only one specific region. They were made in small numbers, making early surviving examples, such as this extremely rare and historically important piece. This is a rare example attributed to the Mandan Indians along the Upper Missouri River Basin. Provenance: The piece was originally collected by noted collector and author, Dr. Colin Taylor, who acquired it from an Indian family in the 1960’s in North Dakota. Dr. Taylor later sold the piece, during his travels in England, to his colleague and fellow club member, Cyrus Eaton, circa 1980’s. The piece is from the ex-collections of Dr. Colin Taylor and Cyrus Eaton of London, England. The head measures 8 inches by 4 inches wide across the bottom of the blade. The tomahawk overall is 19 ½ inches in length.