Menomineee Women - Thanks to Flicker.com
This year has been slow for our business, however, there have been pockets of excitement and native American memorabilia is one of them. I have seen the price of silver work, signed and unsigned, gain significantly over the last year and the same can be said of the better bead work. It is unbelievable what the better baskets are bringing and last year at the reservation I saw baskets that I should have purchased but didn't. I won't make that mistake this year.
Acoma and Pueblo pottery has reached heights that are in the stratosphere. Pots are selling in the $20,000 to $50,000 range like these are the greatest times ever. I don't know why but Cecil has a great bowl by Maria that has some small damage but he is having a difficult time selling it. This should possibly tell us to even be more careful when purchasing and try to stay with the mint pieces. This piece in mint condition could have perhaps sold for $5000 or more at one time.
I missed going to an auction in the last six weeks because of a conflict in scheduling. There was a child's vest with beaded American flags on it and I believe it sold for under $2500. I later saw an almost identical one at over $15,000. You do have to be on guard for fakes because there are many on the market today.
One area where I feel I must give you a warning is arrowheads and spear points. Arrowheads and spear points can sell in the thousands of dollars and a spear point that reaches over 8" is one that you may be able to just name your price. These are being reproduced today and they are so good it is difficult for even an expert to tell them from the real ones. Don't believe all the tales about "I dug that myself", because the ones peddling the fakes have no sense of right or wrong. Most of the fakes will be found at swap meets, flea markets or antique shops where the owners aren't experts on arrowhead or spear points. You have a better chance of finding the real things at garage sales where they have been passed down through the family.
A good book on Indian Artifacts is “North American Indian Artifacts by Lar Hothem” and it should be found on Abe Books or Amazon's site.
I have been waiting for this weekend for a year because we will be returning to Northern Wisconsin and the Menominee reservation. Last year was my first year there and it took me some time to acquaint myself with the area. But this year I am prepared and I feel that there are treasures just waiting to be found there. Last year at the pow wow there were at least 500 dancers and over 50 drumming groups present and when Joshua saw that his eyes got as big as silver dollars but before long I had him down on the dance area.
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