Help with 2 grooved axe heads

digi-shots

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These are the only two grooved axe heads I have… I bought both at two different flea markets.. unfortunately the sellers had no idea where they were found or how old they were.

I just realized the larger one appears to be 3 sided groove.
 

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Here are some pics of the larger, darker one..
 

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And the smaller lighter one..
 

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Really hard to say.... The larger looks like a type of soap stone. Could just be the pics. It has unusual lines on it and the second one is pecked but the patina in the groove should match the rest of the stone.
They are not perfect and the first one shows what appears to be older damage.
Lets see what the experts say.
I find more celts in my area.
Good luck!
 

The patina in the groove on the smaller one matches the rest of the stone.. only difference is there is more pecking in the groove whereas the rest of the head show some polish on the bit and poll ares.
 

The first larger axe, a three-quarter groove is not as old as the second full groove.

The first, the three quarter looks to be a dark igneous stone, not the look of granite of field boulders in my neck of the woods which are often the selected material. It exhibits "lighting streaks" in the matrix where a different mineral formed crystals as the source igneous stone cooled.

The second axe, the full groove looks like many I have found. The poll beat up from be what appears to be used for pounding and the bit well used so much the bit is worn rounded and no longer very well defined and "sharp". It exhibits peck marks still on the poll, the face and bit edge the peck marks have been smoothed out from use. This axe is made from a granite often used in the Midwest were I am. Where the selected stone is sometime glacial drift found in fields or creeks and not always perfectly symmetric but making use of the natural formed stone.

The white discoloration mineralization is often formed from minerals and organic matter breakdown in the surrounding earth as it interacts with the minerals in the stone.

They look authentic to me.

Just my view from the photos.
 

Thanks! I have them displayEd with some southwest pre-WWII pottery. Ididn’t want to have anything with them that might not be right.
 

My two cents, I would think if someone were to fake an artifact they would probably make them more clean and pretty. I don’t have hardly any hands on experience with hardstone but they look good to me
 

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