Monday, September 14, 2009

Artifacts For Sale.




I don't really know how I feel about genuine Indian artifacts for sale. Maybe one of the people that knows how to feel about it can tell me. Just as a side note; I have found Indian artifacts and have given them away. I found a pestle when I was about six years old and I gave to a girl that found the grinding bowl that went with it. I sill have one pea green jasper arrowhead that I found at the very top of Reed Mountain. It's in the attic somewhere. I'm not sure where, because my wife likes to move things. It seems that nowhere I put things; "It doesn't belong there" and she immediately moves it to somewhere else that it doesn't belong. So, someday I'm going to go arrowhead hunting in my own attic.

I probably won't sell it though. It's Mine. finders keepers. But if the average arrowhead sells for $350.00, some people that I know are very rich. Or very lucky to have them. Depending on how you feel about such things.


The Arrowhead above authenticates at approximately 6,000 years old. But, it's for sale if you want it. See below:




Bill Jackson-Authentic Indian Arrowheads, Pottery, Artifacts, and COA's: "CP 007-'Dalton'-Measures 2-7/8' long. Literally perfect condition. Made of a very pretty Gray and Cream Fossil Chert. Found by Homer May between 1907 - 1940 on one of his farms in either Arkansas or Kentucky. This fantastic Early Archaic piece would make a treasured addition to any quality collection. Supplied with a full color Jackson Galleries COA.
Price $375.00 *Contact: Colin Przygoda"



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I just had a friend from an old Garberville family stop in. He had heard that I was buying up genuine Indian artifacts. He showed me this pipe (above) that he says his Grandfather dug up on the back of the ranch a long time ago. He said that he would take $1,200.00 for it. He says that if I'm interested he can get a lot more. I think that he is a Grave Robber, what should I do???

20 comments:

Robin Shelley said...

I think you should offer him more than $1200 & keep your mouth shut.
0:=

Ben said...

Look out Ernie!... I know a guy who dug up a pipe out at Blocksburg and he's had nothing but bad luck since.

Anonymous said...

Honestly, if you think he is a grave robber, don't do it.

What if someone started digging in the Laytonville cemetary and started selling the findings.

This practice of selling Indian artifacts from diggings is rather disgusting. Just my opinion.

Ross Rowley

ROSS SHERBURN said...

This practice of selling Indian artifacts from diggings is rather disgusting. Just my opinion


I AGREE.finding an arrow head from time to time is one thing.digging up burial sites is another.

Ernie Branscomb said...

Maybe I was too subtle... That "Grave Robbed" artifact is the pipe above with the "Genuine Indian Handmade Craft" lable on it....

Which leads to another question. Is it made by a Genuine Indian? Or, a is it a genuine craft.

But, it was fun to get Ross Rowley to bite.

Apparently Robin was the only one to catch-on. Ben probably caught on also, he knows that the local indians didn't have pipes. They didn't have tobacco in Garberville before Whitemen.

Anonymous said...

Oh Ernie, I knew we didn't have pipes in our area. But, I am also aware of a long history of Indian grave robberies. I was more making a point about that.

Now, who can can I sell these local authentic cat skinner goggles to.

Ross Rowley

Ernie Branscomb said...

Ross
Catskinner Goggles are of questionable value, unless you also have the matching earplugs. Do you have a photo or any authentication?

\ said...

sorta ironic that the indian sacrament, tobacco, is a scourge of modern day society.

Robin Shelley said...

I read somewhere recently that the people in Laytonville are poor & have been for a very long time so I doubt there's anything of monetary value buried in their cemetery. Grave-robbing there would probably just get you time!

Wonder how much a tin hat is worth?

Eko, you're funny!

Ernie Branscomb said...

Grave Robber gets his just desserts! Greed and stupidity were his downfall.

Film at eleven



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Ben said...

Ernie... The local Indians and actually all Indians in this part of the country did have pipes and tobacco. Tobacco was the only plant actually cultivated by local Indians. They used Nicotiana bigeloveii which is quite strong and rather rank. The seeds were sown on a pile of oak ashes in the spring and the plants were fenced from deer (amazing that deer would eat this stuff, but they do) with a ring of brush.
The pipes were straight and some quite beautiful with abalone inlay. The tapered stem is usually ash or elder as they have a pith that is easily bored out. The bowl is carved from soapstone and fastened to the pipe with the salmon skin glue used for bows. The pipe and tobacco were carried in a deerskin bag and Indians would often stop on the trail for a smoke. Smoke was blown to the directions and to the earth and sky and a short prayer might be said. Tobacco was a very big deal for the Indians and the Yurok culture hero Pulekukwerek was said to live only on tobacco to illustrate his purity. Harrington's "Tobacco use among the Karuk" is the classic reference and I'm sure it's on anthrohub.com.

Anonymous said...

Ben, your facts are getting in the way of these good ol' boy bullshistorians...you must be a newcomer!

Anonymous said...

Y'all don't pick on Ben. He sounds like he knows a thing or two. I bet he never heard of catskinners goggles to boot. Yesterday is the first time I heard of them and I used to be a catskinner.

Oregon

Ernie Branscomb said...

Believe me, I'm not picking on Ben, I will believe anything that he says is true.

Catskinner goggles are as rare as frogs hair. So, they must be valuable! Ask Lloyd Padon if he has any.Be sure to get the ear plugs too!

Robin Shelley said...

Doesn't it seem more likely that a catskinner would have gloves? Long gloves? Hmmm. I'll have to ask Lloyd next time I see him.

Oregon needs to come up with a new name as "Oregon" is a misnomer now that he doesn't live there (or anywhere near Lloyd, either, I might add!) anymore. Should we have a contest to rename Oregon? How about: Home of the BSers Who Condone Grave-Robbing & Ripping Off Indian Artifacts?
Or Washington?
(-:

\ said...

there's more than one way to rename a catskinner...\\

i never smoked any frog's hair but a couple a winters ago we smoked some toad venom with these kids we met in Tuscon... really really beautiful trip, better than mushrooms. After a few weird tasting tokes from their vaporizer Suzy went into this amazing psychedelic adventure, fucking awesome!

Ben said...

And here's another tobacco story and it's true!
The best pipe stems were considered to be the ones the owner had contrived to bore out using a beetle larva. They would soak the pipe stem in salmon oil until the pith was oily from end to end. Then they would go to their stash of dried salmon hanging from the roof and find the larva of a beetle (probably a dermestid, the kind that eat fur ) and they would put it in the pith and hope that it would show up at the other end eventually. These pipe stems were much admired as the hole was flawless.
If you see one of these pipes you will find a marvel of craftsmanship with the stone bowl perfectly carved and round and the fit of the stem almost
seamless. many many days of work must have gone into their creation. They continue to be prized possessions for their owners.

Anonymous said...

Plants and the People...The Ethnobotany of the Karuk Tribe Museum Series No. 5, by Barbara Davis and Michael Hendryx, uses the Karuk name for the Indian tobacco: "Avarahaira was the only plant that the Karuk cultivated in Northwestern California until post white contact when individual garden plots began to appear. Tobacco seeds were gathered in the fall for spring sowing or starter plants were obtained from the river bar 'across from Elder Georgia Orcutt's place in Orleans.'
These small plants were transplanted at the same eleveation as Tanbark Oak (Lithocarpus densiflora).
Traditionally, tobacco seeds were started in rotted logs which had been charred or in ground where the vegetation had been burned off. When the plants were about half grown, to make them taller and stronger The People removed a portion of the leaves and blossoms. Later various plant parts were picked and given names. Each of these parts were cured in a different way and stored in special baskets for easy identification.
The Karuk ascertained that the outside of Indian Tobacco's stem possessed the strongest flvor while each cellular layer toward the center became increasingly milder. The very center of the stem was the mildest of all." pg 164
Upslope of a tree was a preferred placement of an Indian tobacco plant for the Karok. Kat Anderson quotes Drucker: "Tobacco grown [by the Tolowa]; burned off clump of brush, planted seed, covered with aromatic leaves, fir boughs, etc., to impart good flavor'patch sheltered by brush windbreak, to prevent wind from blowing away the strength of the leaves." Pg. 174,

Anonymous said...

This post is regarding a post that I sent to Robin over the weekend that is many posts ago. I don't know if you'll check it.

Does anyone know what the long slender object is in Ernie's post with the two arrowheads? Over the weekend I not only saw what I mentioned below, but 3 obsidian objects as pictured in his post.

Post sent to Robin 9/19:

You're not going to believe this, but it's God's truth. I actually saw 7 approximately 3" obsidian arrowheads, 5 smaller ones like bird points, and various pieces of obsidian today, that were discovered between Cahto and the Sherwood Rd. I was amazed!! The person who showed them to me said there were small chunks of obsidian on the same property. Gary, my husband said that most of the obsidian was probably traded by the Lake County Indians. One arrowhead had very sharp barbs and this particular one was about 4" long X 1 1/4" or so wide. I couldn't believe my eyes. It was so exciting. I could almost feel their presence.
Cousin

September 19, 2009 10:52 PM

Anonymous said...

I hate to say this here but one of cousin's cousins make the best arrow heads and doesn't take him long to whip out a work of art.

Oregon