strange little axe

junkboy · Sep 26, 2009

Hi. First off you guys find some of the most amazing artifacts i've ever seen. My question is about a strange little axe that my father in law found in 1955. I happened to see it in a drawer last year and had to ask about it. It is about 3 1/2 inches long, is a full grove and here's the odd part, it had POWOTAN 1611 engraved into one side of it. Now my father in law owns around 900 acers on the eastern shore of Maryland and does stumble across a few artifacts from time to time as the Native Americans in our area did live on some of what is now his farm. I had a very experienced friend give me an opinion on the little axe and he said that the letters and numbers on the axe are written in a way that hasen't been used since around that time. He recomended that we have someone at the Smithsonian look at it for a professional opinon but my father in law could care less so it still sits in the drawer.Sorry about not having pictures but the next time i go over to his house Ill get some pictures and post them. I also have an 8 3/4 inch long full grove axe that I found in one of his rock piles pulled from the corn field. That thing is beatuful except for all the plow marks on one side

. Thanks for looking and I will look forward to your opinions.

Smurufett · Sep 26, 2009

http://www.powhatanmuseum.com/Powhatan_Map.html

He is a link to a little info. Hope this helps

Tnmountains · Sep 26, 2009

Smurufett said:
http://www.powhatanmuseum.com/Powhatan_Map.html

He is a link to a little info. Hope this helps

Great link Smurufett. Look forward to some pics when you get a chance. We like to droool over cool artifacts :thumbsup:

TnMountains

junkboy · Sep 27, 2009

Smurufett said:
http://www.powhatanmuseum.com/Powhatan_Map.html

He is a link to a little info. Hope this helps

Thank you very much. It's interesting to see that the date 1607 means something. Im definently going to work on getting those pictures ASAP. Is it common place to have important dates engraved on artifacts? My best guess was one of the english settlers put the engraving on the axe due to the fact that the numbers and letters are engraved in an old english style of writting.
Has anyone else ever seen anything like that?

The Grim Reaper · Sep 27, 2009

My brother has a Pendant he bought at an auction that is an ex-Mueser piece and it has 1888 scratched on to it. Maybe that is how they marked some of the finds back then.

junkboy · Oct 4, 2009

Well I got to take some pictures of the axe today. I was mistaken in my original post as to the date on the axe. The date is 1611, not 1607. The engravings on the axe are as follows: P O W H A T A ( The A is crossed very lightly) N (The N is written backwards). The line running between the A and the N is a plow mark.Let me know what you think. Thanks.

Tnmountains · Oct 4, 2009

No I think its great. It shows date found and where it came from. They did not have majic markers. It adds to the travel and history of the artifact. Its a nice item to own from your family collection :notworthy:

I do not think it diminishes it at all if anything it adds provenance?
TnMtns
oh yeah thanks for getting the pic up had been looking for it.

junkboy · Oct 5, 2009

Thanks for the post. I was thinking ( and this is only a guess because I have no way of knowing this with any amount of certainty) that maybe one of the English was given this or maybe bought it from the natives as a souvenir and they decided to engrave it to comemorate the occasion. Something like this piece really makes you think about the the different hands that have held it. I want to buy it from him something fierce but I don't think he's going to come off of it anytime soon. :'(

SoIll · Oct 5, 2009

junkboy said:
Thanks for the post. I was thinking ( and this is only a guess because I have no way of knowing this with any amount of certainty) that maybe one of the English was given this or maybe bought it from the natives as a souvenir and they decided to engrave it to comemorate the occasion. Something like this piece really makes you think about the the different hands that have held it. I want to buy it from him something fierce but I don't think he's going to come off of it anytime soon.

Seems like it has a little too plow scrapes to have been found in 1611.
Everything I've ever been told about axes tells me that's an archaic piece.

junkboy · Oct 5, 2009

SoIll said:
junkboy said:

Thanks for the post. I was thinking ( and this is only a guess because I have no way of knowing this with any amount of certainty) that maybe one of the English was given this or maybe bought it from the natives as a souvenir and they decided to engrave it to comemorate the occasion. Something like this piece really makes you think about the the different hands that have held it. I want to buy it from him something fierce but I don't think he's going to come off of it anytime soon.

Click to expand...

Seems like it has a little too plow scrapes to have been found in 1611.
Everything I've ever been told about axes tells me that's an archaic piece.

It was found in a corn field in the 1950's. Either one of the settlers found it and engraved it or were given it and engraved it which means either way it probably isn't much older then 450 years. It was found when he was turning his field for the second or third time. Before he bought the property it had never been farmed. It was border line marsh area. His front yard is a river. I Have always heard that full grove axes were older and were not used in this time period but I have never seen a Celt or a 3/4 grove axe found around here, only full grove. maybe they were behind the times. LOL.