This is an exceptional and authentic circa 1850-1860 Southern Plains Native American Indian “Missouri War Axe” tomahawk from the ex-collection of Bruce VanLandingham. The Kiowa Comanche war club tomahawk shows a “Missouri War Axe” design with a large, triangular-shaped hand forged iron head. The head shows a weeping heart cutout (cut out) in the center of the blade and an early solid wood haft handle with traces of old dark green pigment mineral ocher paint, much of which has flaked off from age. Along with the paint the war club has been artfully adorned with brass trade tacks and a long, frilly long hand cut fringe drop or wrap off the bottom end of the handle with old trade clothe which has been held onto place with additional brass trade tacks. All the trade tacks show a solid brass construction with a square shank, a true attributed to its authentic original age. Provenance: From the previous collection of Bruce VanLandingham of Sundog Fine Art Bozeman, Montana. Bruce VanLandingham was a pillar in the American Indian collection community and a respected expert. Along with being an avid collector Bruce also was the sole owner of Sundog Fine Art Gallery in Bozeman which was both part museum and gallery. The piece was purchased directly from Bruce in the mid-2000’s at Santa Fe by the current collector/owner along with about 10 other fantastic items. Bruce VanLandingham purchased the piece from a large collection of Kiowa Comanche material out of North Texas. The term "Missouri War Axe" was coined by American Indian weapons collectors to describe this particular 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. The wonderful original piece shows proper signs of wear and true Indian use during the Indian Wars period. The axe head measures overall 8.5 inches long by 4.5 inches wide across the bottom of the blade. Overall the tomahawk measures 22 inches in total length with an additional 16-inch-long fringe. For a complete representation of condition and for additional images please call 800-686-4216. It is the buyer’s responsibility to view each image and preview the item to determine condition.