SKINNER TO AUCTION AMERICAN INDIAN AND
ETHNOGRAPHIC MAY 13TH IN BOSTON
BOSTON, Mass. - April 24, 2006
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www.skinnerinc.com - Skinner, one of the nation's leading auction houses, will host an auction of American Indian and Ethnographic Art in Boston on May 13th at 10 a.m. Comprising nearly 600 lots, the sale features particularly fine Plains offerings, as well as rare and unusual weavings, pottery, and basketry. Also highlighting the auction are objects descended in the family of Henry W. Fischer, and the Cookson collection. Henry W. Fischer was a Presbyterian minister who rode a circuit in South Dakota from c. 1906 to 1911/1912. He was based out of the town of MacIntosh and also in the Meadows area. The Cookson collection comprises items acquired by Captain Samuel S. Mathers (April 12, 1841-June 19, 1905), who served as a lieutenant in Company A 13th West Virginia Infantry and was Aide-de Camp on the staff of Rutherford B. Hayes. He served throughout the war, obtaining the rank of captain before his discharge. In 1895, he was recommended to make application for the assistant doorkeeper of the 54th Congress per William McKinley. It was also President McKinley who appointed him as Special Land agent for the Department of the Interior in 1895. He served in New Mexico, Oregon, Oklahoma, and Louisiana. Material acquired by Mathers also comes to the auction through family descent.
Tribal Artifacts
The auction will open with an unusually large and eclectic offering of tribal artifacts, featuring South Pacific, African, and New Guinea material. Highlights will include a 19th century Fiji carved wood Kava bowl (lot 25, $2,5/3,500), a late 19th century carved wood club from the Marquesas Islands (lot 27, $3,5/4,500), and a Maori carved jade tiki from the last quarter of the 19th century (lot 29, $3/4,000). Others include a Solomon Islands carved wood paddle (lot 33, $4/6,000), and a Hawaiian feather lei from the last half of the 19th century (lot 30, $6/8,000). African offerings feature a Cameroon carved wood figure depicting a male astride a leopard (lot 16, $3/4,000), and a Mende carved wood female figure, the standing figure with arms hanging forward, scarification marks, and elaborate coiffure (lot 17, $3,5/4,500).
Plains Artifacts
"This is an auction the Plains collector will not want to miss," notes department director Douglas Deihl. Several important offerings highlight this portion of the sale, including a classic Cheyenne beaded hide and tacked cradle board (lot 208, $40/60,000), and an early Cheyenne beaded hide woman's dress, c. 1860s (lot 195, $40/60,000). The extensive selection also features some rare Southern Plains material, including a Comanche horsehide bowcase and quiver (lot 168, $10/15,000), and a rare Comanche pony beaded cloth and hide man's shirt (lot 205, $8/12,000), as well as Kiowa offerings including a painted buffalo hide shield (lot 181, $12/16,000), a rare pony beaded hide paint bag (lot 149, $9/12,000), and a rare beaded leather holster (lot 153, $6/8,000). Several pairs of moccasins also will be offered, including a pair of Comanche woman's beaded hide high-top moccasins, purportedly made by one of Quanah Parker's wives at Fort Sill, Oklahoma Territory (lot 73, $5/7,000). Apache material features buffalo hide and cloth double saddlebags from the third quarter of the 19th century (lot 119, $8/12,000), a wonderful early cloth, hide and wood female doll (lot 213, $4/6,000), and a historic beaded leather strike-a-lite and awl case, c. 1870s, purportedly captured from Geronimo in 1883 (lot 160, $6/8,000). An old period fragment accompanying this piece reads, "Captured from Geronimo in 1883 on the Sierra Madras Mountains, Old Mexico, in the great General Crooks campaign of that year. There was two twenty dollar gold pieces in it then." Northern Plains material includes a Yankton Sioux beaded buffalo hide girl's dress yoke, c. 1870s (lot 200, $8/12,000), and a Crow beaded and tacked hide knife sheath (lot 154, $6/8,000).
Weavings
The extensive selection of weavings includes a large single figure Yei weaving (lot 568, $10/15,000), a Classic Moki blanket from the third quarter of the 19th century (lot 573, $6/8,000), and several Germantown weavings including lot 560 ($6/8,000) from the collection of Captain Samuel S. Mathers. Two very large Navajo rugs, each 15 feet long, also will be offered (lots 541 and 543, $14/18,000 and $10/12,000 respectively), as well as two Classic Saltillo serapes from the first half of the 19th century (lots 556 and 554, $6/8,000 and $2,5/3,500 respectively). The many beautiful Late Classic blankets and rugs include a Navajo Late Classic serape, c. 1870s (lot 570, $15/20,000), a Navajo woman's wearing blanket in a second phase woman's pattern (lot 563, $8/12,000), and a Southwest wearing blanket in a second phase chief's pattern (lot 565, $8/12,000).
Pottery
Fine pottery in the auction will be highlighted by two excellent Zia polychrome ollas, the first from the last quarter of the 19th century (lot 366, $10/15,000), and the second from the late 19th century (lot 365, $8/12,000). A large Zuni olla from the last quarter of the 19th century also highlights the selection (lot 378, $12/16,000). Additional highlights include two Zuni bowls from the last quarter of the 19th century (lots 375 and 379, $5/7,000 each); and some fine Acoma jars, including a late 19th century high-shouldered example (lot 367, $8/12,000). Two signed Margaret Tafoya bowls, one with deeply carved Avanyu pattern (lot 355, $5/7,000), and the second with deeply carved abstract design (lot 346, $1/1,500), also will be offered, as well as a Marie and Julian bowl with a tapered neck with Avanyu pattern (lot 358, $3/5,000), and a Marie and Julian redware plate (lot 353, $3/5,000).
Basketry
Baskets include several Apache ollas, led by lot 436 (c. 1900), a high-shouldered example with flared rim decorated with eight two-color sets of human forms, two rows of animals and vertical stacked diamonds ($7/9,000). Another, lot 437 (c. 1900), is ovoid in form, also with a flared rim, and is decorated with multiple stepped diagonal devices ($5/7,000). Yokuts examples include a coiled basketry jar, c. 1900 (lot 463, $6/8,000), and a coiled basketry bowl, c. 1900 (lot 464, $5/7,000). Some five California coiled baskets also will be offered, including a Mission bowl (lot 467, $3/4,000), a Panamint bowl (lot 482, $2/2,500), and a Yosemite Paiute bowl (lot 483, $2/2,500), all from the turn of the 20th century. The extensive group of early Pomo baskets will be led by two compressed globular form bowls, the first with dark red stepped diagonal design (lot 472, $3/5,000), and the second with an overall stepped triangle pattern and white glass bead detail (lot 475, $2,5/3,500). Rounding out the selection are a few fine Northwest Coast and Inuit items, and several cornhusk bags.
Additional Highlights
Additional highlights include a rare Southwest katsina polychrome dance board, from the late 19th/early 20th century (lot 326, $4/6,000). Northeast material includes a pair of Iroquois beaded and quilled hide moccasins (lot 245, $10/15,000), and a multicolored finger-woven sash from the second quarter of the 19th century (lot 249, $15/20,000). The latter piece was collected from the descendants of Felise Poutre, author of a book written in French, describing his experiences as a captive during an "Upper Canada Rebellion," c. 1837; a copy of the book accompanies the lot. From the Northwest Coast, the sale offers a Kwakiutl polychrome carved wood mask from the estate of Phoebe Flory Walker of Mt. Vernon, New Hampshire (lot 307, $8/12,000), and a Kwakiutl painted wood mask from the same collection (lot 309, $3/5,000).
The varied selection of photographs is led by a signed Edward Curtis orotone, "Canyon de Chelly," in an early frame and with a descriptive label on the back (lot 427, $4/6,000). Also featured are three Karl Moon photographs: a portrait of a Navajo man wearing two necklaces (lot 421, $6/800, signed Karl Moon, "Pesothlanny" on the mount), a portrait of an elderly Apache man (lot 422, $6/800, "Karl Moon, Nar-I-ke-gi-et-su, Old Apache Scout" on the mount), and a Pueblo view (lot 423, $5/700, signed Karl Moon in the lower left corner). Additional highlights include various photos by Will Soule, Heyn, and William Henry Jackson to name a few.
"As usual, this is a very eclectic sale with something for everyone," says Deihl.
American Indian College Fund
Skinner regularly accepts donations of material for auction to benefit the American Indian College Fund, with all proceeds going to the Fund. Objects in this auction being sold to benefit the Fund include lot 347, a contemporary Southwest blackware lidded jar by Deny Gutierrez of the Santa Clara Pueblo, donated by Krista P. Katz, Executive Director of the Mt. Kearsarge Indian Museum in Warner, New Hampshire ($2/300). A lot of two items including a framed Iroquois pouch with floral beadwork on cloth, and a small painting by Zuni artist Alvin Haloo, depicting mudhead katsinas at a dance, framed with the first prize ribbon it took in 1991 (lot 401, $2/300), also will be offered, as well as a framed watercolor painting by Romando Vigil Tse-Ye-Mu, (San Ilfdefonso Pueblo, 1902-1978), depicting a woman making pottery, donated by Donald Baughman (lot 407, $4/600).
Catalogue and Preview Information
Previews for the auction will be 12 to 5 p.m. Thursday, May 11th, 12 to 7 p.m. Friday, May 12th, and 8 to 9 a.m. Saturday, May 13th. Illustrated catalog #2319 is available by mail for $32 ($39 for foreign requests) from the subscription department at 978-779-6241 x240. It is also available at the gallery for $29. Prices realized will be available at www.skinnerinc.com during and after the sale. For more information, call 978-779-6241, or visit www.skinnerinc.com. Skinner's site also allows users to view all lots in the auctions, leave bids, and order catalogues online.
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About Skinner
Skinner, Inc. is one of the nation's leading auction houses for antiques and fine art and the only major auction house headquartered in New England. With expertise in over 20 specialty collecting areas, Skinner draws the interest of buyers from all over the world and its auctions regularly achieve world record prices. Skinner provides a broad range of auction and appraisal services, and it is widely regarded as one of the most trusted names in the auction business. Skinner's appraisal experts regularly appear on the PBS-TV series, Antiques Roadshow, and its specialty departments include American Furniture & Decorative Arts, Paintings & Prints, English & Continental Furniture & Decorations, Fine Ceramics, Jewelry, Couture, 20th Century Furniture & Decorative Arts, Fine Musical Instruments, Asian Art, Fine Judaica, Toys, Dolls & Collectibles, Science & Technology, Oriental Rugs & Carpets, American Indian & Ethnographic Art, and Discovery. Skinner galleries are located in Boston and Bolton, Mass. For more information on upcoming auctions and events, visit Skinner's web site
www.skinnerinc.com.
