These pieces were found by me in the mid-late 1980's. I live in a County that is rich in Indian Artifacts of most cultures but it's hardly as if they're everywhere and easy to be found. Like other rich counties (and there are hundreds of them) if you happen to be in the right place at the right time you might just find something amazing! And many have ,myself included. Here are the 2 finest knives I ever found and although the lesser of the two was a super find for me, the even nicer specimen stands head and shoulders above it. They are both archaic barbed "hardin" knives. The smaller of the two is light brownish/tan w/reddish-orange inclusions bleeding through it (sadly they are not observable in the photos. The larger Hardin was found when Bill P. And I were headed back to St David from Liverpool Il and we noticed how well a particular field had been smoothed out by the rains. I pulled into the gravel drive of a little house at the corner of the field and knocked, an old fellow answered and I asked if he owned the field and if we could hunt it, he said "yes I do and you can, but you won't find anything
Because it was hunted out a long time ago. The old mans name was Harley Preston and I proceeded to find one of the finests barbed Hardins known in the collectors world, granted there could be several competing specimens in private collections that are not known to collectors, regardless the exceptional quality of this piece is not my opinion , rather it it is the opinion of high end collectors and nationally recognized Artifact brokers. One said it is one of the two best examples in the nation, another said; one of the best half dozen, several told me; one of the finest dozen and a half or two known. I believe it's safe to say that that this is one of the best 50 Hardins in the Nation and I'm very grateful to have been the one who found it. It has a needle tip point, some of the sharpest needle tip serrations known and great but not perfect symmetry ( the stem is slightly out of symmetry w/ the blade) however the exceptional knapping skills of the artisan who made this blade left hardly any scars., making this blade almost polished View attachment 1177546 View attachment 1177547 View attachment 1177548 View attachment 1177549 View attachment 1177550 View attachment 1177551 View attachment 1177552 View attachment 1177553 View attachment 1177554 View attachment 1177555
Because it was hunted out a long time ago. The old mans name was Harley Preston and I proceeded to find one of the finests barbed Hardins known in the collectors world, granted there could be several competing specimens in private collections that are not known to collectors, regardless the exceptional quality of this piece is not my opinion , rather it it is the opinion of high end collectors and nationally recognized Artifact brokers. One said it is one of the two best examples in the nation, another said; one of the best half dozen, several told me; one of the finest dozen and a half or two known. I believe it's safe to say that that this is one of the best 50 Hardins in the Nation and I'm very grateful to have been the one who found it. It has a needle tip point, some of the sharpest needle tip serrations known and great but not perfect symmetry ( the stem is slightly out of symmetry w/ the blade) however the exceptional knapping skills of the artisan who made this blade left hardly any scars., making this blade almost polished View attachment 1177546 View attachment 1177547 View attachment 1177548 View attachment 1177549 View attachment 1177550 View attachment 1177551 View attachment 1177552 View attachment 1177553 View attachment 1177554 View attachment 1177555
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