a life time collection

[huntress104]

I saw an ad for an auction that had listed a lifetime collection of Indian artifacts. I attended that auction today and was glad I did. The owner had a great collection of points, axes, celts, pestals, beads, and some very hard to come by pieces. I saw 3 spear points that he had found go for $1500 dollars. They were museum quality pieces. I was lucky enough to get a few of his fine pieces for myself, some of which I may never have had the opportunity to own let alone find. 3 of these pieces, the dovetail, turkey tail fulton and the graham cave piece were all found in Warren Co. Illinois. The rest was found here in Kentucky. Thought I would share them with you. Even though I bought them I still think they are pretty awesome.


turkey tail fulton

dovetail
graham cave
is this a bannerstone?

 

[old digger]

Wow! Very Nice! Looks like you got some really nice artifacts.

 

[muttandjeeps]

That is a really nice looking group!

 

[Americus]

Wow! Can you imagine finding those!

 

[The Grim Reaper]

Huntress104, not trying to burst your bubble here but I would send the Turkeytail and the Pendant off to have authenticated or at least take them to a show and have them looked at. The TT looks like it has that fake black patina on it and I don't like the etchings on the Pendant. They did incise a lot of Slate, but normally only broken of damaged pieces. I hope for your sake I am wrong, but I don't like either piece. JMO.

 

[trevmma]

Yeah take the pendant back

 

[Mark Todd]

Looks like you acquired several nice artifacts,thanks for showing them.! The "keyhole pendants" made of banded slate usually come from Ohio and often have preliminary grind marks showing on the surface that were not entirely ground/ polished away,that's normal. Yours however, has markings that appear to be "scenic"which is strange although not undocumented. Very unusual, but the unusual is always suspect just because the unusual artifact that doesn't fit the "norm" will always be critiqued more strenuously critiqued, however many unique artifacts have been found that supersede the "norm". For instance, tally marks were considered strange until several examples were discovered
on keyhole slate pendants. Whatever the case may be,l enjoyed the pics, HH!

 

[LM]

You really need to approach all lithic artifacts with severe skepticism.
Stone points and sports autographs are neck in neck for the most faked 'collectibles' out there.
When you start getting into perfectly- almost artistically- apportioned points that look like they were 'made yesterday', 99% of the time, its because they were. You can go on ebay right now and order up replicas of stone points with ease...

3 Stone Spearheads 03B5N Clovis Arrowhead Replica Primitive Stone Tool | eBay

As far as telling them from the real thing? It can be really hard, it can involve microscopy, very carefully assessing patination, wear, porosity deposits etc and even trickier yet is that they've been faked for a very long time. Knapping was a very popular hobby for a while there.

I guess the point I'm making here is that the market is so flooded with complete fakes that its had an influence on peoples expectations, where authentic pieces are usually written off as 'poor condition' and/or 'worn' while blatant fakes get all the attention. Be skeptical, submit for 'authentication' that involves something more than an 'opinion'.

 

[Mrdigz]

Very nice pieces!