No news is good news...

I see that I have been delinquent in posting. Well, that does not make for an interesting blog if there is nothing new on it...

For the past few weeks I have been on the phone and email working on pulling together the final parts of this auction. There are about 3 more weeks until the final deadline for the April 5th sale. The photography for the catalogue starts the final week of January.

As far as goodies that have showed up - just today, several Navajo weavings arrived, a couple Great Basin baskets, and two very nice Acoma ollas. Here is a shot of one of the ollas...

Happy New Year!

I hope you have a wonderful New Year's day and that 2009 is happy and successful!

Eskimo Soapstone

Friday, a slug of Inuit soapstone sculptures walked in the door. Well, I guess they did not actually "walk"... more like lumbered...

Regardless, this has been an area of American Indian art that has been slowly growing on me. I used to not think much about these sculptures, but the more I see, the more intereresting they become. Carved in the round, the subjects vary from comical, to everyday arctic life scenes, to marine and avian wildlife. Even more interesting, the semingly "off balance" look of some carvings only supports the ablity of the artist to see design in a non-conventional shape. Even the older pieces have a contemporary but organic quality that I am really starting to enjoy.

By the way - these pictures are just a sampling... and I never claimed to be a photographer, as you are finding out...

Closing in on 2009

I have to say, it has been an interesting, slightly volatile year. As with all years, there are the slopes, valleys, and catwalks that we ski through. Hopefully 2009 will bring, with the guidance of our new president, an upswing and stabilization in the economy.

But with all that said, art is art and will continue to be a bright spot in our lives. We have seen some pretty neat things this year - which I would like to share! (And I know - this is not all Indian stuff!)

William Louis Sonntag (American, 1822-1900)

Handel Lamp with Egyptian Ruins Shade #6004

1930 Packard 733 Club Sedan

Western Great Lakes Catlinite "Monster" Pipe Bowl and Stem,

ps. to view the complete records on these pieces, you will have to log into the website... sorry.

A Geronimo Bow Case, Quiver, and Arrows Collected at the St. Louis World's Fair

ca 1904
thread-sewn using colors of red white-heart, white, dark blue, pink, greasy yellow, and light blue glass seed beads; edged with red wool; signed Geronimo in blue ink on hide, length of case 27"; PLUS sinew-backed bow with red painted detailing and sinew string, length 42"; AND six arrows with painted details and iron points, average length 26".

Accompanying the bow is a handwritten note stating provenance: Made by daughter 16 yrs old/ given 1904/ Geronimo archery contest used this bow/ given to Navajo/ traded to M Stark for turquoise; AND Land Stakes an autobiography of Herbert A. Stark.

Stark discusses in chapter 4 of Land Stakes, his time working as a guide at the Saint Louis World's Fair. There, he became acquainted with many famous personalities including Teddy Roosevelt. In one of his final paragraphs of this chapter, Stark describes a Navajo store that he visited, He was a chief of the Navajos and had a big store room packed with Indian goods... I showed him a gold ring with a turquoise setting... He was willing to swap even... (Stark 51).

And now take a close look at the top arrow tip -- it is bent...

Neat.

Discussion Group

Apparently, I cannot figure out how to place the html correctly in this blog - so, I'll just say it. That's a more direct approach anyway...

We started a general discussion group on our homepage. The group link is Everything Antique. The purpose of the group is to comment, share opinions, and for the general dissemination of knowledge. Please feel to chat and share your thoughts with a community of people who dig antiques too!

I hope you join and participate!

A Challenge Part III: Seminoles and Southern Plains

Again, Handbook of North American Indians vol. 14, pg 451...

The Seminoles maintained cordial if sometimes strained relations with the other removed Southeast tribes and cooperated with them in matters of mutual concern. Relations with the neighboring Creek proved problematic throughout the nineteenth century, but they resolved their differences through diplomacy, often including meditation and invention by United States officials. The Seminoles also maintained cordial relations with relocated Midwestern tribes, settled to the west of them after the Civil War. The Seminoles traded with all these groups, particularly with the Plains tribes. Prior to the Civil War, the Seminoles undertook annual summer trading expeditions westward to the Great Salt Plains (north-central Oklahoma), where they traded with the Southern Plains tribes.

This may help support the family story:

In the summer of 1877... enroute to Spokane, Washington and traveled through the Billings area. He acquired this belt by trading for it with an indian who had participated in the battle [Little Big Horn].