This thin, extremely well-crafted arrowhead was purchased from a New York antique store in 1994.
It
came enclosed in an envelope with the letterhead "J. G. Braecklein /
Architect and Archaeologist / 3850 (?) E. 60th St. Terrace / Kansas
City 4, Missouri"
Handwritten in pencil on the envelope are the words: "Arrowhead found 5 miles west of Fort Smith, Arkansas"
The
owner of the store had no knowledge of arrowheads or Indian artifacts,
thus it is almost certain that he did not fabricate the letterhead of this
famous collector. The store owner said he obtained it from an estate
sale following a divorce. He had numerous other artifacts from the same source, many of them broken and poor-quality, thus indicating that he did NOT obtain these from a flint-knapper.
5 miles west of Fort Smith Arkansas, of course, is the location of the famous Spiro Mound, inhabited from 950 to 1450 A.D.
The following excerpt from page 7 of a book by David La Vere (Looting Spiro Mounds: an American King Tut's Tomb (c)
2007) is illuminating: "Still, there were some serious collectors out
there, men like Harry Trowbridge and John Braecklein, both of Kansas
City... These were well-read men who knew Indian relics. Though not
university trained, they were about as well versed in Indian artifacts
as were most academics of the day. For whatever reason, though, these
men had a collector's bent... Braecklein, an architect credited with
building the first skyscraper in Kansas City, had at one time a
collection numbering over one hundred thousand artifacts." (from Google
books; simply google "arrowhead" and "Braecklein" to see excerpts of book).
Item comes with Braecklein envelope. Seller has excellent reputation--100% positives. Item #218008703 a 17th century rapier sword sold for over $2000.00, and buyer (Angelsword) said "Item was better than expected!" See my feedback pages.
PLEASE NOTE: item has been nail-polished. The Braecklein envelope has a fold crease and a small tear in upper left corner, street address number is torn. Ruler in photo is calibrated in INCHES.
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