(ca. 1782-1807) Indian Trade silver cross by Robert Cruikshank, Montreal. Silver, 5 1/4" x 2 3/4". Very Fine. Holed for suspension, jump ring perhaps a later addition. Single bar, bilobate ended form, finely decorated on front and back with engraved and stamped floral decoration, bold script RC touchmark at center. Rich old gray toning throughout, save for area at central reverse where a label was once present. A typical, 100% (guaranteed, forever) authentic Indian Trade silver cross from the most famous maker working in Canada from the era before the American Revolution until a few years before the War of 1812. Cruikshank, a Scottish emigre who is thought to have briefly lived in Boston, was one of the primary suppliers of silver trade ornaments to the British military complex in the St. Lawrence Valley and the Great Lakes region. He likewise supplied John Jacob Astor, the Hudson's Bay Company, and traders in places like Pittsburgh and Detroit, where a large debt was recorded to Cruikshank and his partner, Charles Arnoldi, from the firm of Thomas Williams and Company in 1804. Specimens of his work have been found archaeologically all over the Great Lakes region, with many sites noted by Quimby (Indian Culture and European Trade Goods. The Heye Foundation / Museum of the American Indian holds an identical form to this piece, with similar but less flowery engraving, illustrated in The Covenant Chain, a 1980 National Museum of Man (Ottawa) exhibition as plate 87. Hamilton (Silver in the Fur Trade) illustrates another very similar Cruikshank cross, the same size but slightly different form at the base, on page 212. "Where Two Worlds Meet," a Minnesota Historical Society catalogue from 1982, illustrated another very similar Cruikshank cross found at Big Sandy Lake, Minnesota.
Genuine Indian Trade silver is incredibly rare, particularly so in the marketplace. I'd estimate 95% of items offered as Indian Trade silver is fake, including the entire inventory of a dealer I've seen set up at major conventions. Genuine items tend to be very thin and ephemeral -- Indians were interested in brightness and size of the ornament, but had no interest in the weight, thus most objects were made nearly paper-thin, to maximize the expensive silver that went into making it. While it is possible to authenticate unsigned forms, particularly ones with good provenance, pieces with a good, solid, easily identified mark of a major maker make the job much easier. I've been lucky enough to see a fair bit of genuine Indian Trade silver, both in museums and in the marketplace, including buying and selling most of the William Guthman collection in 2006. Most of what exists are small, typical forms, things like circular and heart-shaped brooches or even misshapen cut thin pieces of silver. Large crosses are the exception, not the norm. This fact is backed up by documented evidence of Cruikshank's production in 1801, which included more than 35,000 small brooches but just 60 "large crosses" like this one. According to the Sir William Johnson papers, a large cross (up to 5 1/2") could be traded for a small beaver or a medium sized buck, a standard value that lets us refer to items like this not just as a trade item, but frontier currency from the fur trading regions of the late 18th century. This piece shows good eye appeal and metal quality, including no evidence of ever being dug. It would be a centerpiece in an open-minded collection focusing on American numismatics of the late 18th century...Sold
Civil War Stirrup with Copper-Nickel Indian Cent Rowel
(ca. 1862) rider's stirrup with Indian cent rowel. Bronze, 5 1/2 inches long. Very Fine / As Found. The rowel is a copper nickel (1860-64) Indian Head cent, and plenty of detail remains on both sides. The spurs are clearly hand cut, while the stirrup itself is finely made, nicely patinated, shows a small decoration atop the rowel. This piece was found in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia; presumably the coin rowel was an emergency replacement for the original rowel, lost sometime during the war (or "the late unpleasantness," as one tour guide I once worked with at Monticello used to call it). I've handled a stirrup with a coin rowel before, a piece that was found out West and used a Seated quarter. This piece, with a coin datable to the Civil War and a provenance that suggests the same, should be desirable to an even wider range of collectors...Sold
Remarkable 1876 Centennial Seated Liberty Coin Bank
1876-dated coin bank. Tin, 3" tall, 3" in diameter. Fine or so. Painted in the form of a colonial drum with images of both sides of a Seated Liberty coin dated 1876. Lid and base are orange/red, steel gray sides show remnants of their metallic finish. The word "Old" has been carefully written atop the coin slot, seemingly close to the time of manufacture. Obviously well handled, but the numismatic imagery remains bold. I assume this toy bank was issued to mark the 1876 Centennial, perhaps it was even marketed at the Centennial Exposition. I've seen one other example of this bank; this one is a bit less dinged up. This would be a neat association piece for a Seated Liberty collection (think of how many Seated dimes you could fit in this thing!). It is empty, sorry...Sold
Large and Impressive 1883 Wells Fargo Broadside
1883 Wells Fargo broadside. Paper on board, 28" x 17" inches. Fine. Wells, Fargo & Co's Express / List of Offices, Agents, and Correspondents. July 1st, 1883. A remarkable, large-sized, boldly printed document of the heyday of Wells Fargo in the Old West. The listings are voluminous, naming every agent Wells Fargo had at the height of their fame. There are 48 cities listed in large type in three wide columns at the masthead, including places like Galveston, Havana, Honolulu, Los Angeles, Oakland, Portland, Pueblo, Seattle WT, and Tucson AT -- the last two the only territorial cities named among that group. In the bottom listings, territorial cities are plentiful. There are seven columns, each listing perhaps 150 towns and the names of the agent there, perhaps 1000 total listings. The first of each letter of the alphabet should give the flavor:
Acampo, Cal.; Baker City, Or.; Cahto, Cal.; Daggett, Cal.; Eagle Lake, Tex.; Fairmont, Neb.; Gage, N.M.; Hackberry, A.T.; Idaho City, I.T.; Jackson, Cal.; Kansas City, Mo.; Lacoste, Tex.; Madera, Cal.; Napa, Cal.; Oakdale, Cal.; Pacheco, Cal.; Quartzburg, I.T.; Raceland, La.; Sabinal, Tex.; Table Rock, Neb.; Udall, Kas.; Vacaville, Cal.; Waco, Neb.; Yakima, W.T.
The print is black and bold on attractive off-white paper. A bit of minor staining is visible at some areas of the border, affecting some text. Some light folds are seen, but the piece is firmly matted to a modern board in attractive fashion -- I can't attest to how it was done, but there are no wrinkles, glue spots, or other signs of problematic mounting. This is frame-ready and could be presented very attractively. I've located just one listing for a sale of this broadside, from the September 2008 PBA Galleries sale where it last appeared. In fact, any kind of Wells Fargo broadside is rare in the marketplace. This is an important relic of the early days of what is today the second largest bank by deposits and one of America's twenty-five largest companies. Likely irreplaceable...Sold
Remarkable Ca. 1900 Photograph of Indian Chief Wearing Four Indian Peace Medals
...Including a Large Size Thomas Jefferson Indian Peace medal.
(ca. 1895-1905) Photograph of an Indian Chief wearing four Indian Peace medals. Image size: 6 1/2 x 8 1/2", framed to 16 1/2 x 18 1/2". I purchased this as a platinum emulsion print, though a photographer friend has since told me it is likely a silver emulsion due to the range of hues and toned, lustrous appearance. The detail in the image is magnificent -- my amateurish attempts to photograph this photograph don't stand up to the original. The Indian, apparently a Sioux, stands a three-quarter view, holding a long peace pipe in one hand and a medicine bag in the other. The detail, contrast, and range of color within a "black and white" palate makes for a great artistic achievement. There are no condition problems, spots, tears, wrinkles, or anything I see wrong with it.
Putting a glass to the image makes plain precisely which medals the chief is wearing. From bottom to top: a large size Thomas Jefferson, a large size James Buchanan, a Ulysses S. Grant, and one of the private Washington portrait fur trade medals which Prucha traces to Pender, Nebraska before 1901. These medals trace this Indian's ancestry like a family tree: the ca. 1803 Jefferson was likely his grandfather's; the 1857 Buchanan, his father's; the 1877 Grant his own as a young man; and Washington fur trade medal is likely brand new in the time of this photograph. Most exciting is the possibility that the Jefferson medal was distributed by Lewis and Clark. The ca. 1900 Pender, Nebraska Washington fur trade medals were distributed along the Missouri, a century earlier, Lewis and Clark spent the night of August 15, 1804 about 25 miles from Pender. There were treaties affecting the northern Nebraska region signed during both the Buchanan and Grant administrations, and the man depicted could be a Pawnee, an Omaha, or a Ponca.
I've never taken this photograph out of its frame, and there may be more identifying information on the photographer or the sitter within. The image itself is one of the most arresting portraits of an Indian wearing his medals I've ever seen. They literally stretch from the beginning of the Indian Peace medal series (Jefferson's were the first with the Peace and Friendship reverse) to the end. The Pender Washington medal was struck 10 years after the cessation of the program but its design type is based on the conventional Peace and Friendship theme pioneered under Jefferson. A century of history -- three generations of a single family -- is told with this portrait, though the man depicted may remain anonymous forever. It is rare to find numismatic-related wall art that is at once this beautiful and this historic...Sold
Large Ephraim Brasher Spoon with Oval EB Mark
The Same Stamp as on the Brasher Doubloons
(ca. 1787) Serving spoon by Ephraim Brasher, New York. Twice-marked with EB in oval, the same marked used on the famous Brasher doubloon. 9 1/4" long. Fine or better. A well used spoon, showing some tip wear and a very old, period repair across the stem about two-thirds the way from the bowl to the end. Such repairs were commonplace, indeed, silversmiths depended upon repairs as a substantial part of their business. Attractive bright cut decoration is present on the stem, incorporating the initials JEH (John Eager Howard? Might be nice) into an oval frame. The back of the stem shows two EB marks in an oval cartouche, the most desirable of all the various Brasher marks for a numismatist. Both are crisply punched and little worn. This spoon could use a light polishing (spoons, unlike coins, were meant to be polished at the time of their issue and are thus meant to be polished by collectors today), but it presents a very attractive appearance. Brasher produced a lot of silverware, from spoons to full tea sets to church silver, but those with this mark are actually quite scarce. Most of us will never own one of Brasher's gold coins, but owning this spoon is a nice substitute. And you can't use a doubloon to eat your cereal...Sold