My best pipe - I have only two

dognose

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Apr 15, 2009
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This remarkable example of prehistoric American Indian art was fashioned, ground and polished from a carefully selected piece of black, with some red, steatite. The eye sockets have been pecked out after the polishing of the pipe was completed. These eye sockets were hollowed out to hold a fresh water pearl that would of given the appearance of an eye, with the possibility of a pupil painted thereon. The pearls were likely imbedded in a pitch-pine adhesive to prevent them from falling from the eye socket.

It measures 4 7/8 inches in length by 2 ¼ inches in width and is a remarkably thin in the wings. The underside of the pipe has the birds’ feet carved tucked and facing the head. The pipe bowl is square, approximately 1 1/8 inch x 1 1/8 inch shaped with rounded corners. The pipe bowl set back from the tip of the head 1 ¼ inches. The inside of the bowl is unpolished. There are two old labels; 8932, and N3. The origin is listed as Bacon Co GA.
8932 is Ben Thompson's label.

Ben is seen in the photograph holding the pipe. The photo was taken at Ben's home in Kirkwood Missouri.

I took the first two, Art Gerber took the tan back ground photo at the 2007 Owensboro Ky show

Provenance:
Purchased 01/15/2007 from Ben W Thompson of St. Louis Missouri
Ben is past president of St. Louis Archaeological society, Who's Who In Indian Relics
(2) Ben W Thompson
Purchased from Aubrey B. Davault of Vichy Missouri Fall 2005
(3) Aubrey B. Davault
Purchased from Walter G. Barnes estate about Nov 2000 (a)(b)
Walter G. Barnes Past President of the St. Louis society in the 1970's (d: 1999)
(4) Walter G. Barnes
Purchased from the collection B.W. Stephens of Quincy Ill (d: ~ 1970)
B.W. Stephens was Past President of the Illinois State Archaeological Society and author of "Pipes from Mounds in Adams County Illinois" CSASI editor 1958
(5) B.W. Stephens

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Upvote 0
Now that’s a complete story. Beautiful piece thanks for sharing. It is just amazing.
 

Great post Dognose! That is a real work of art! Beautiful. I think it depicts a falcon in a dive.falcon 2.jpgfalcon 3.jpgfalcon dive.jpg

And with that long tail, maybe the American Kestrel.
 

Yeah, check the tail feathers and compare to pipe. This is the American Kestrel.american kestrel 2.jpgAmerican Kestrel male.jpg
 

Thanks for posting your nice bird pipe. I have a whale pipe and a Bird body with a Indian head pipe. Both my pipes have the lines /chipped area in the bowl and the through hole to the bowl how the heck did they do this ? i will take some good photos and post them if you dont mind.
 

Thanks for posting your nice bird pipe. I have a whale pipe and a Bird body with a Indian head pipe. Both my pipes have the lines /chipped area in the bowl and the through hole to the bowl how the heck did they do this ? i will take some good photos and post them if you dont mind.

Please do. You might start your own thread though.

Kindest regards,
Kantuck
 

Yes very nice pipe. But I don't understand something. Are you treating it as an investment that you will profit from? Do you aquire pieces for museums? Because personally the only pieces I want in my collection or the ones I find. No offense or disapproval only curious.
 

I have been collecting since I was 9 - almost 50 years. I have a lot of relic, - everywhere.
I have found a number of historic pipes, and two parts of pre-historic pipes. But nothing like that. I liked it, so I got it.
Ben was my friend. I checked it out for a long time before he decided one day to part with it. I did not obtain it as an investment. For museums - no.
 

I bought a few very nice pieces from that collection somewhere around 15 to 18 years ago. Actually more than a few pieces.
 

Others posting artifacts here, myself included, should take heed of this post. This is how you post a piece like this, with all the relevant information.

Awesome Pipe dognose. Thanks for sharing that with us.
 

With the long tail and short rounded wings, that is a Sharp-shinned Hawk to my eyes. I see them nearly every day picking off small birds from my feeder. The pipe maker captured the image very well. Beautiful steatite piece. Gary

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