Lot 81
Columbia River Stone Club, Engraved Handle
Columbia River Stone Club, Engraved Handle
Starting Bid: $600
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Native American, Pacific Northwest Coast, Columbia River, ca. 1400–1800 CE. A weighty hand-worked stone club from the Columbia River region, its elongated, tapering body swelling toward a rounded striking head and narrowing to a slender neck before terminating in a small knob pommel. The dense gray stone has been patiently ground and polished to a smooth, satiny surface, the labor of countless hours evident in the even sweep of its profile. A single incised girdle encircles the body just behind the head, dividing the working end from the grip, while the flared butt bears finely engraved chevron and herringbone motifs that fan outward like the tail feathers of a bird.
Clubs of this class, sometimes called "slave killers" in the older literature, served as both weapons and emblems of rank among the peoples of the lower Columbia and the broader Northwest Coast, including Wishram, Wasco, Chinookan, and neighboring groups. Their concentrated heft made them lethal at close quarters, yet the care lavished upon their finish, and the restrained geometry of their incised ornament, suggests that they functioned equally as prestige objects passed within lineages and brandished in ceremonial contexts. The chevron field at the pommel, perhaps an abstraction of feathers or scales, links the piece to a broader Plateau and Coastal visual vocabulary in which pattern reinforced status without recourse to overt figuration.. 14.3" L x 2.8" W (36.3 cm L x 7.1 cm W).
Provenance: private Colorado, USA Collection; ex-private Denver, Colorado, USA collection; ex-private Flushing, New York and Ridgeway, Colorado, USA collection, acquired April 2018 via private seller
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Item #
203031
- Condition: Very Good. Some areas of chipping, as well as a few scratches and abrasions as shown, all commensurate with age. Otherwise, intact and very nice. Old collection labels on one side.
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| $300 | $999 | $50 |
| $1,000 | $1,999 | $100 |
| $2,000 | $4,999 | $250 |
| $5,000 | $9,999 | $500 |
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| $100,000 | $199,999 | $10,000 |
| $200,000 + | $20,000 |