North American Auction Company
Live Auction

Timeless Treasures: 19th C. Native, Western Photographs & French Elegance

Sat, Sep 13, 2025 11:00AM EDT
  2025-09-13 11:00:00 2025-09-13 11:00:00 America/New_York North American Auction Company North American Auction Company : Timeless Treasures: 19th C. Native, Western Photographs & French Elegance https://live.naabid.com/auctions/north-american-auction/timeless-treasures-19th-c-native-western-photographs-french-elegance-20467
Join us Saturday, September 13th at 9am MT in Bozeman, MT for Timeless Treasures: 19th C. Native, Western Photographs & French Elegance. This exceptional auction features a remarkable collection of 19th-century Native American artifacts, rare Western photography by Haynes, Huffman, and other Montana photographers, and an impressive selection of 18th-century French furniture. Don’t miss this rare opportunity to acquire historic and elegant treasures. Browse the full catalog at live.naabid.com
North American Auction Company tucker@naabid.com
Lot 87

Stunning Great Lakes Double Human Effigy Pipe Bowl

Estimate: $15,000 - $25,000
Starting Bid
$2,500

Bid Increments

Price Bid Increment
$0 $5
$50 $10
$100 $25
$500 $50
$1,000 $100
$2,000 $250
$5,000 $500
$10,000 $1,000
$25,000 $2,500
$100,000 $5,000
This is an absolutely stunning Great Lakes double human effigy steatite and silver pewter inlaid large pipe circa 1780-1840 with COA from the ex-Donald Cooper collection; Paris, France collection; Rising Star Farm Krystal Leslie collection. This is truly a sale highlight and might be the finest human effigy pipe ever offered on the public market. The pipe shows a large size and is carved from black steatite having a wider band at the pipe stem connection end with long, round body tapering towards the tall bowl. The entire bottom edge of the pipe has a ridge keel of steatite pierced with nine holes and a expertly carved scalloped edge inlaid with silver pewter with a band of steatite down the central vein. The keel flows into the T-shaped bowl showing a curved keel with silver pewter inlay having a fully body human effigy carving seated upon a platform leaning against the tall bowl which shows a warrior’s human effigy man’s head facing the other direction with expertly carved facial features, inlaid mother of pearl eyes and at the bowl top ridge inlaid with silver pewter in a zig-zag sawtooth pattern with a ridge line in the center. The stem connection shows further artful circle and line zig-zag silver pewter inlay running all the way around the pipe with another sawtooth zig-zag pattern and band design. This is by far the most intricately carved and inlaid human effigy pipe from the Great Lakes offered for sale and one of the only double human effigy examples. Provenance: Ex-Donald Cooper Michigan collection, collected from Rising Star Farm July 21, 2015, ex-Krystal Leslie Rising Star Farm Summer Shade, Kentucky collection, ex-private Paris, France collection; comes with a COA Certificate of Authenticity from Rising Star Farm Krystal Leslie noting the piece as being Native American 1840. The only other similar examples of a double human effigy Great Lakes pipe was sold by Bonhams in their June 2011 auction for $46,360; the Ojibway Catlinite Effigy Pipe Bowl Attributed To Awbonwaishkum or Pabahmesad, Manitoulin Island, Canada originally at Sotheby’s December 1993 then again in Sotheby’s American Indian Art May 2015 with an estimate of $200,000-$300,000 showing a double human effigy pipe; and the example from circa 1760-1780 in the Musee McCord Museum of Canadian History in Montreal collected by Sir George Duncan Gibb. The pipe is in museum well preserved condition with no major breaks, no visible repairs and stunning condition. Measures overall 8 1/8-inches long by 3 5/8-inches high by 1 5/8-inches deep. For a comprehensive study of effigy pipes from the Algonquin-speaking inhabitants of Manitoulin Island in Lake Huron, including a consideration of the symbolism associated with the depiction of liquor vessels, see Brownstone, Arni, 2011, pp.54-63. For additional references: Harper, 1971, pp. 174-175; National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C. Cat. No. 12/105; Royal Ontario Museum Toronto, Cat. No.HD15A.

All items will ship at our North American Auction Company in-house shipping department. Please allow up to 14-21 days after a complete invoice payment is made to package and ship your purchase. After you are notified of your winning bids from our company and your item invoice is paid in full our new shipping department will contact you. Make sure when signing up with our company that your preferred shipping information is up to date as this information will be used to estimate shipping cost. Once the items have been packaged our team will contact you for shipping payment. Shipping invoices and payment will be completely separately than the items invoice. Please notify the shipping department with any alternate request or instructions at mark@naabid.com or 800-686-4216 ext. 3. For a shipping quote please contact the same information above. PLEASE NOTE a shipping quote price can fluctuate in price. Auction company is not responsible for actual shipping cost being higher than quoted shipping cost. Thank you for trusting North American Auction Co. with your bids and shipping. As our shipping department is brand new please understand that delays can be expected.