Estate Sale Find

[undertaker]

Purchased this arrow a while back. Thought it would look good in my display. Don't know much about it but it was priced to sell and looks hand made with some good workmanship.

 

[DizzyDigger]

Quite a piece of history you got there.

The shaft appears to be hand shaped, and the point looks
to made of carefully knapped chert, and secured with
sinew and hide glue.

The fletching looks like aged turkey feathers, had tied and
the ends secured with hide glue. The nock appears to be made
of carved bone.

Making an complete arrow like that requires a great deal of skill,
and very few are left today that even know how to do it. What you
have there is most likely very old.

Were it mine I would take it to the local Univ. and ask
one of the Archeology prof's to have a look at it. They
should be able to give you an approx. age, plus the
tribe that it came from.

 

[Loco-Digger]

This could be the real deal or this could be a reproduction. The cub scouts where I live buy authentic hand made arrows and give them out every year to all that reach and go through the the order of the arrow ritual to become a boy scout.

 

[unclemac]

they sell those at Wall Drug in South Dakota among other places, I have a couple myself....not all that expensive either.

 

[Tnmountains]

I like it I have one but not near as nice as that one/.

 

[monsterrack]

Undertaker I hate to be the one to tell you this but that is an arrow that was made by me. The point is Arkansas novaculite with animal hide glue and whitetail sinew and turkey feathers that were cut down and burned with a lighter. The shaft is a cedar shaft and the feathers are tied on with sinew at a spiral twist. There has been a coat of wax and other things to antique it. I sell them for $25 ea. I have been making and selling them for over 30 years and I hope you did not get taken. One thing to think about is sinew and feathers will not last very long, unless in a controlled space. One thing for sure is that I know my own work.

 

[unclemac]

i gotta take some pix of mine and see if they are yours!

 

[pat-tekker-cat]

I love it when a story comes together!
Just think, what would the odds be, an estate picker would happen to pick, another members' work?
Ya'll oughta play the lotto today!
Thanks for an enjoyable read, and hope there's more of the story(s), to come.....

 

[undertaker]

Well when I purchased this arrow I didn't think it was truly authentic so I'm not at all shocked. I payed $12.50 for it and figured at that price it probably wasn't real. Just thought it would look good in my table display case. I did think how could someone put that much time into making one of these and sell them so cheap.

 

[yakker]

But at least you're guaranteed a very well-made arrow- Monster does really fine work! Yakker

 

[unclemac]

But at least you're guaranteed a very well-made arrow- Monster does really fine work! Yakker

i can second that!

 

[mcb66]

This why I hang around here. Awesome.

 

[undertaker]

I see this arrow has 23 bids and is selling for over $600.00. How can you tell authentic from repro. Is there a way ?

 

[unclemac]

where is the link?

 

[undertaker]

Ebay all categories, search number 231463980947. I do see where most bids are by two different people. Guess it was a museum artifact although most museums do have some reproduction artifacts. This guy does have a lot of cool stuff and a good reputation for selling authentics.

 

[unclemac]

go to the guys "feedback" profile and you will see he sells repros as reals.

eBay Feedback Profile for generallee292

you can catch these guys sometimes buying honestly sold new stuff....roughing them up and then selling them as artifacts....what you do is watch their buying feed back and see what it is that they buy and who from....then you can go to their "store" and see these same things a few months after sold as ex-museum pieces.

 

[monsterrack]

I looked at some of the arrows this guy is selling on E-bay and I have some I'll sell you or anyone, that are the same for 1/3rd the price that they are selling for I promise you if it has spiral work of sinew and the feathers are in that good of shape it is a fake, I can look at the flaking and tell it looks like my work, the way the sinew is put on tells me this, also the way the notch is made. I feel bad that someone is going to get taken for a lot of money for something that looks just like something I made. I may have to report this to e-bay because this is just not right. I did report this 2/1/15

 

[unclemac]

do report him...i have done so in the past too. funny thing...ebay has made it HARDER to catch these guys by taking down sales pictures or making them "private".

 

[JRedHorse]

Purchased this arrow a while back. Thought it would look good in my display. Don't know much about it but it was priced to sell and looks hand made with some good workmanship.

There is one sure fire way of determining if it is a modern knock off but it would involve untying any portion of the sinew wrapping, just enough to touch a lighter flame off on the sinew end, if it "balls up" and melts then it is an artificial sinew, if it burns to ash and smells like hair burning then it is real animal sinew.

I still make our Tribes arrows for ceremonies and I see a few red flags on your find,

1) The feather fletching's would have long ago been rotted off or consumed by insects.

2) the shaft appears to be "Carved" we draw our arrow shafts through sharpened holes in a flat piece of bone which gets them round and we wouldn't have, slice marks in the shafts, our arrows are a sense of pride as well.

3) I see no evidence of a blood groove in the shaft, these are cut into one or two sides of the entire shaft so that when it enters flesh the quarry will bleed out quicker. (the blood grooves are gouged in place using the same bone tool),picture a very sharp "Pac Man" shaped hole cut through a flat bone, we draw the reed or branch through this and the hanging point (Pac mans mouth) cuts the groove as we form the shaft.

There are many more steps but you get the picture.

I'll be happy to answer any Native American questions on this forum if I can, Be Well, J. Red Horse

 

[bill from lachine]

JRedHorse,

Thanks for the precise response.....it explains it very well for those who are not aware of what to look for.

Regards + HH

Bill