Auction Reports

Cincinnati and Los Angeles

An exceptional Tlingit rattle. Courtesy Bonhams. Estimate: $150/200,000 SOLD: $175,000Los Angeles, CA
Bonhams
August 31
Native American Art
$1 million

Bonhams held its Native American art sale on August 31, achieving a total of $1,079,650, with 87 percent sold by lot and 94 percent by value. Highlights in the sale include a fine Northwest Coast rattle (est. $40/60,000) carved from a single piece of wood that hammered at $47,575, a Haida or Tlingit Northwest Coast staff (est. $40/60,000) that achieved $60,075, and the top lot in the sale, an exceptional Tlingit rattle that bested its low estimate of $150,000 when it closed at $175,075.

A fine Northwest Coast rattle. Courtesy Bonhams. Estimate: $40/60,000 SOLD: $47,575

“The August 31 sale went very well,” says Ingmars Lindbergs, Bonhams’ director of Native American art. In addition to the top three lots, Lindbergs explains that “several early Navajo weavings followed in the low- to mid-$40,000s, and strong prices continued through beadwork, select historic pottery and an extensive collection of early Navajo and Pueblo jewelry.”

Cincinnati, OH
Cowan’s Auctions
September 18
American Indian Art Auction
$1.5 million

Cowan’s American Indian Art Auction, held this past September, brought in a total of $1.5 million, with several notable highlights. A beaded hide tobacco bag from the Sioux Elk Dreamer Society sold for an auction record of $131,250 against a presale estimate of $50,000 to $60,000. The Native American, Prehistoric & Tribal Art department at Cowan’s had a fantastic month, with both stellar results on its September sale, as well as the repatriation of a sacred wooden figurine, returned to the Zuni Pueblo in New Mexico. The hard-carved wooden figurine, believed to be the living embodiment of a War God or ‘Ahayu:da’ in the Zuni religion, was found in an Ohio estate that was consigned to Cowan’s Auctions. The department’s director and senior specialist Danica Farnand recognized the figure and immediately began the process to facilitate its safe return. Sioux Elk Dreamer Society beaded hide tobacco bag. From the Collection of Robert Jerich, Illinois. Courtesy Cowan’s Auctions. Estimate: $50/60,000 SOLD: $131,250

An exceptionally rare Ashiwi polychrome pottery jar. From an Estate in Sinking Springs, Ohio. Courtesy Cowan’s Auctions. Estimate: $40/60,000 SOLD: $68,750

“Months like this make all the blood, sweat and tears worth it,” says Farnand, “to not only serve our consignors but to help the Zuni recover a long-lost god, that is really something special.”

Among the other successful lots during the American Indian art sale were a rare Ashiwi polychrome pottery jar that achieved $68,750 (est. $40/60,000), an early Apache beaded buffalo hide shirt for $31,250 (est. $15/25,000) and a Nez Perce-Cayuse beaded buffalo hide blanket strip for $31,250 (est. $30/40,000).