North American Auction Company
Live Auction

Fine Montana Collector Sale - April 2023

Sat, Apr 22, 2023 11:00AM EDT
Lot 203

Rare Sioux Brass Head Pipe Tomahawk w/ Drop19th C.

Estimate: $6,000 - $8,000

Bid Increments

Price Bid Increment
$50 $10
$100 $25
$500 $50
$1,000 $100
$2,000 $250
$5,000 $500
$10,000 $1,000
$50,000 $2,500

This lot features a rare 19th Century pipe tomahawk with brass head and beaded drop attributed to the Sioux Native American Indians of South Dakota. The piece was said to have been collected in 1905 by Dr. Warren Thompson of Chadron, Nebraska at the Rosebud Sioux Indian Reservation in South Dakota and was later acquired in the 1970s by noted collectors Mary Lou and Pierre DuPont of St. Louis, Missouri. The tomahawk features a rare pattern of solid brass head with a large triangle cut out at the center. This is a large, heavy tomahawk that shows hand stippled linear design on both sides of the head as well as a wonderful slender tall pipe bowl. Other similar examples of pipe tomahawks made of forged iron and brass have been documented by scholars Peterson, Baldwin, Hartzler & Knowles, et.al., and a few examples from the Peterson book as shown in the pictures. The artful attractive example has a hardwood haft with both having a wonderful deep, shiny patina. The tomahawk has a round eye / eyelet hole. The haft is covered in solid brass square shank and other metal trade tacks in several bands. At the bottom of the haft is a pierced hole which holds a beaded Great American Bison Buffalo Indian tanned hide and stroud cloth drop tied on. The beadwork has a banded geometric tab pattern all in early glass trade seed beads having a background of greasy blue, and pattern in cobalt and semi-transparent Cheyenne pink. The bottom shows larger greasy wound glass pony beads and the top two brass hawk trade bells. The bottom of the drop has long frilly hide fringes. Provenance: From the Thompson and DuPont collections. Tomahawk measures 25 inches in length with the head being 12 ½ inches long by 5 inches wide across the bottom of the blade. The beaded drop is an additional 22 inches long.*

Condition