Pacfic NorthWest Nipple Maul - good or not?

[Mr Scratch]

Hey new guy here with new question.

I recently obtained this stone PNW nipple maul. It is in maybe the best condition I've seen one of these in outside a museum, and does not appear to have seen much use (if any). Can anyone tell me if it is genuine, and if so, maybe more specifically what region within the NW it is from?

 

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[Charl]

You may need to show that to someone from the PNW who has lots of experience with hardstone artifacts from that region. That does look like it was never used, judging from the business end. Few here will have experience with that type of pestle, but we'll see, there are members here from all regions. I hope it's the real deal, but it may require a hands on look by experienced eyes. Judging from photos is not the easiest thing to do.

 

[joshuaream]

I've handled a few of those at auctions, and the few that nice sold for a couple thousand dollars. Pretty decent incentive for people to copy them.

The material doesn't look like what I've seen, and the condition looks basically unused. I wouldn't get my hopes up, but I'd try to find someone to look at it in person. Are you based in the PNW?

 

[Mr Scratch]

I've handled a few of those at auctions, and the few that nice sold for a couple thousand dollars. Pretty decent incentive for people to copy them.

The material doesn't look like what I've seen, and the condition looks basically unused. I wouldn't get my hopes up, but I'd try to find someone to look at it in person. Are you based in the PNW?

I am from the PNW (Oregon specifically). I'll keep an eye out for someone in the know who can put hands-on. I've looked it over pretty closely with a magnifying glass looking for any sign of modern metal tool use and haven't seen any. The texture has the slightly granular appearance I'd expect of weathering on natural stone, but I suppose it is possible to fake that somehow.

My understanding is that these were used for woodworking, with the business end struck flat-side onto an antler wedge to split cedar logs into boards, and that they were fairly high prestige items. The local tribes along our coastline and the Columbia River were pretty materially advanced, and kept impractically elaborate objects essentially to show off that they were wealthy and skilled enough have them. I wonder if this might be such an item, and perhaps this might account for it's unused condition (if genuine).

 

[monsterrack]

From the ones I have seen the nipple end was much more pointed and the maul end was not as thick. get to a local museum or someone with a microscope. What is the size of this item?

 

[unclemac]

where did you get it and how much did you pay....what was the story that came with it. yes it is in keeping with the style and material and yes it would have been a sort of "hammer"

 

[Mr Scratch]

Maul is about 7.5" long. The guy I got it from was clearing out his father's estate, his father collected NA artifacts. It was in a box marked "Northwest", but he knows nothing about the source. I paid a touch over $100 for it; at that price I figured even if it was a repro I'd be okay.

 

[unclemac]

yes 100$ would be good , it is a nice maul