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Old Reservation Era Indian doctor's bag fully quill-decorated on both sides. One side features Indian coup ponies; the other depicts a chief and warrior Indians on horseback. Estimate $40-$500. Image courtesy LiveAuctioneers.com and Old Barn Auction.

Indian artifacts from Dickinson collection highlight Old Barn’s July 11 auction

Catherine Saunders-Watson
Catherine Saunders-Watson
Old Reservation Era Indian doctor's bag fully quill-decorated on both sides. One side features Indian coup ponies; the other depicts a chief and warrior Indians on horseback. Estimate $40-$500. Image courtesy LiveAuctioneers.com and Old Barn Auction.
Old Reservation Era Indian doctor’s bag fully quill-decorated on both sides. One side features Indian coup ponies; the other depicts a chief and warrior Indians on horseback. Estimate $40-$500. Image courtesy LiveAuctioneers.com and Old Barn Auction.

FINDLAY, Ohio – A banded Huronian-slate birdstone from Fond du Lac, Wis., will be offered on Saturday, July 11, as one of the highlights in Old Barn Auction’s 628-lot sale of prehistoric and historic Indian artifacts, with real-time Internet bidding will be provided throughout the sale by www.LiveAuctioneers.com.

Measuring 5 1/8 inches long, the hand-carved Native-American bird amulet comes from a region that, through the first third of the 19th century, was part of the Winnebago Indian nation. Small but very desirable to collectors of early American Indian material, the relic is expected to make as much as $500 in the sale.

The auction inventory comes from two sources, said Old Barn Auction’s owner, Jan Sorgenfrei. “Part of it is from the collection formerly belonging to Sam Dickinson, who worked for the University of Arkansas and is known as the father of Arkansas archaeology,” he said. “Mr. Dickinson assembled a fine collection and sold it last year. He’s now in his 90s. The buyer of the collection is now selling it through us. We’ve put it together with a large selection of stone material and pottery deaccessioned by a Midwest institution.”

A long list of Native-American tribes is represented in the July 11 sale by such objects as arrowheads, blades, knives, tomahawks, axeheads and other weapons. Additionally, the auction will feature bracelets and pendants; effigies, pipes, tools and many other desirable tribal artifacts.

Pottery vessels include bowls, jars, platters, bottles and other vessels, some of them coming from Central America. A small selection of books and other literature pertaining to North American Indians rounds out the sale.

A colorful selection of beaded garments and accessories includes a man’s fully beaded vest (Sioux), leggings, pipe bags and knife sheaths. A beaded cradle cover features beautiful multicolored geometric designs accented with trade cloth decorations. It is estimated at $40-$500.

An eye-catching Indian doctor’s bag from the Old Reservation era is quill-decorated with primitive images of Indian coup ponies on one side and a chief and warrior Indians on horseback on the other side. The lot carries a $40-$500 estimate.

Previews will be held daily at Old Barn Auction, 10040 U.S. Route 224 on the west side of Findlay. For information on any lot in the sale, call 419-422-8531 or email auction@oldbarn.com.

View the fully illustrated catalog and register to bid absentee or live via the Internet as the sale is taking place by logging on to www.LiveAuctioneers.com.

About Old Barn Auction: In operation since 1955, Old Barn conducts more than 40 auctions each year, offering prehistoric and historic Indian artifacts, Civil War military items, candy containers, toys, trains, antique furniture, dolls, marbles, coins, cast iron banks, fishing items, tools and many other type of antiques.

ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE

Banded slate birdstone from Fond Du Lac, Wis., 5 1/8 inches. Estimate $40-$500. Image courtesy LiveAuctioneers.com and Old Barn Auction.
Banded slate birdstone from Fond Du Lac, Wis., 5 1/8 inches. Estimate $40-$500. Image courtesy LiveAuctioneers.com and Old Barn Auction.
8½-inch by 2¼-inch bowl with red and black stripes on exterior and a highly conventionalized, plumed serpent on the inside. Origin Costa Rica. Estimate $40-$500. Image courtesy LiveAuctioneers.com and Old Barn Auction.
8½-inch by 2¼-inch bowl with red and black stripes on exterior and a highly conventionalized, plumed serpent on the inside. Origin Costa Rica. Estimate $40-$500. Image courtesy LiveAuctioneers.com and Old Barn Auction.
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9¼-inch by 4 inch bowl with linked scroll design. Origin Costa Rica. Estimate $40-$500. Image courtesy LiveAuctioneers.com and Old Barn Auction.
9¼-inch by 4 inch bowl with linked scroll design. Origin Costa Rica. Estimate $40-$500. Image courtesy LiveAuctioneers.com and Old Barn Auction.
8½-inch by 3¼-inch bowl purchased at an antique shop in Jerusalem. Estimate $40-$500. Image courtesy LiveAuctioneers.com and Old Barn Auction.
8½-inch by 3¼-inch bowl purchased at an antique shop in Jerusalem. Estimate $40-$500. Image courtesy LiveAuctioneers.com and Old Barn Auction.
5 3/8-inch by 5-inch pot with incised triangle designs. From the Hays Place near Blue Lake, Arkansas. Estimate $40-$500. Image courtesy LiveAuctioneers.com and Old Barn Auction.
5 3/8-inch by 5-inch pot with incised triangle designs. From the Hays Place near Blue Lake, Arkansas. Estimate $40-$500. Image courtesy LiveAuctioneers.com and Old Barn Auction.