19TH CENTURY PLAINS INDIAN LANCE.

This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 7/12/2022

Plains Indian lance with forged iron blade ca. 1860-1880’s. Used mostly from horseback for hunting buffalo these lances were also used by dismounted warriors in hand-to-hand combat. The sole weapon missing from most Indian Wars collections is indeed the lance. This is primarily because they were hard to send home or carry for any period of time as a captured souvenir due to their prohibitive length. This example retains a 16” blacksmith forged iron cloverleaf style blade with a convex raised center (for a similar lance with wrapped tang and whittled shaft see See John Baldwin's "Indian Guns, Spears and Shields of the American Frontier", pg. 91). Blade tang is affixed into a notched hardwood shaft, then wrapped with a 4” sinew sewn rawhide wrap well shrunk to the form. Wrap is painted with alternating red and green stripes, with 1 - 1/2" of thin copper wire remaining that was used to reinforce a split in the wood. Next wrap down is a 10” blue buckskin fringed drop (most likely colored with laundry bluing or indigo dye), 3 thread sewn beaded strips on buckskin, a large powder blue padre bead, 3 22” weasel strips with a twisted buckskin wrist strap, and another green and red fringed buckskin wrap. Shaft is 5' in length and retains 20% of of its green painted finish, and appears to have been have whittled or carved with a draw knife, spoke shave, or similar bladed instrument. May have been longer at some point in its life as these lances were often used for buffalo hunting with lengths of up to 9 feet recorded. Once these lances were retired from the field use, many remained in the hands of warriors and were were held as ceremonial items. Period images show lances used in dances and parades decades after they were made. Former Jimmy Hart, New Jersey collection. CONDITION: Solid and displayable with some of the drops being fragile and require care when handling. BRM.

Item Dimensions: 61"