How many men across the world are trying to channel John Wayne and ending up being Gordon Gecko. I would estimate as many as are involved in resource extraction, particularly those in the West who see reservations set aside to protect culture as being rather stockpiles of water, grass, minerals, and uranium ore. Oh, and scenery.
The Fall auction season is underway and now the little hoards of art and artifacts that those resource-exploiters have accumulated are being dispersed. This splendid shirt is going up for auction though Heritage Auctions www.ha.com “Heritage Auctions is an auction house established in 1976 in Dallas, Texas. Heritage is the largest collectibles auctioneer in the world. In 2014, Heritage's total sales exceeded $969 million, a single year record for any collectibles firm.”
Crow Beaded Hide War Shirt May Bring $40,000 at Heritage Auctions
A circa 1900 Crow Beaded Hide War Shirt once belonging to Chief Bell Rock is expected to sell for more than $40,000 in Ethnographic Art: American Indian, Pre-Columbian & Tribal Jewelry, a specialty auction conducted by Heritage Auctions Nov. 18 in Dallas. The rare war shirt is the pinnacle of the private collection of Houston businessman Kenneth S. "Bud" Adams, Jr., whose more than 100 lots makes up the cornerstone of the sale.
Kenneth S. "Bud" Adams, Jr.
Adams, a founder of the American Football League and owner of one of its charter teams, the Oilers/Titans franchise, remained close to his heritage as an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation.Entranced by the rich color and stunning visuals of the Southwest, his collection of American Indian art was just one expression of his enthusiasm for the material culture of his heritage.
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“A source said early indications are Adams' death was of natural causes, but the source stressed the "early indications" aspect.
“Adams lived alone and was found in the office at his River Oaks home. He had not been seen since Saturday, Houston police at the home said.
“HPD crime scene investigators came out to the Adams home to take photos, which police said is normal when a person dies in a home alone.”
“In 1946, Adams started ADA Oil Company, which was a forerunner of the publicly-held American Stock Exchange-listed Adams Resources and Energy, Inc. (AE), an energy company engaged in the business of marketing crude oil, natural gas and petroleum products; tank truck transportation of liquid chemicals; and oil and gas exploration and production. Adams' other business interests included extensive farming and ranching in California and Texas, cattle feeding, real estate, automobile dealerships and leasing. He was a longtime collector of Western art and Native American artifacts.”
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So there’s your basic CSI Texas plot. Adams was an enrolled “Indian”, born in Oklahoma where he starred in athletics. Not all the resource moguls are or have been white, particularly around Oklahoma oil. But he seems to have known a lot about wars. Maybe one of the Wetzels could get a novel out of it. I want to comment on this shirt, even though my expertise is limited. Like art, artifacts must be accompanied by provenance and curating.
I googled, hoping to find a photo of Chief Bell Rock wearing the shirt. I did come across photos of men in such shirts, but none was Bell Rock though there are photos of the man, and no garb exactly matched. The trouble is that tribal clothes are sectional, esp in their original form when the sleeves and leggings were attached with ties. In the oldest clothes, the two sides may not match because that’s a Euro idea.
The beaded strips are also made separately and sewn on, so they can be taken off a worn out shirt and put on a new one. This shirt looks to be in pretty good shape and so do the bead strips and fringe. I would not be able to say whether the design of the beading is definitively Crow but it looks typically Plains Indian. Not nearly as elaborate as some, but using the ever-popular turquoise-colored beads.
I would not call this a “war shirt” unless I were pretending those horsehair tufts on the front were really scalps. To my eye this is a parade shirt for grand occasions, part of a “suit” of white buckskin to be worn with an eagle tail Sioux-style warbonnet. Bob Scriver had such an outfit, made for him by Cecile Horn, to wear when he conducted the Blackfeet Tribal Band in the Thirties. All the players wore them, which would represent a considerable outlay of money today. Bob’s suit disappeared while in the custody of the Montana Historical Society. Such a shirt is not that "rare."
The major treaties of the American prairie were signed in the mid-1800’s, so a “war shirt” is not likely in 1900.
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/435934438906092469/?lp=true Check out this collection for another set of comparisons. They range from the sublime to the ridiculous, as is usual with indigenous close-to-origin artifacts. The earlier shirts will be quilled rather than beaded and will keep the shape of the animal with the legs dangling down at the sides of the shirt. But I think this warshirt is a lesser and more recent example. The photographer has cut off the hem, the "tell."
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/435934438906092469/?lp=true Check out this collection for another set of comparisons. They range from the sublime to the ridiculous, as is usual with indigenous close-to-origin artifacts. The earlier shirts will be quilled rather than beaded and will keep the shape of the animal with the legs dangling down at the sides of the shirt. But I think this warshirt is a lesser and more recent example. The photographer has cut off the hem, the "tell."
The whole dynamic of collecting “precious” or unique things is a demonstration driven by ego, meant to show superiority. It goes back into deep history through the hominins as soon as their brains were capable of generating the great mystical clouds of metaphorical associations to objects. Was this man celebrating his Indian side or his exploiting and dominating side? Or was it a clever way of “owning” both? The whole thing is full of irony.
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from the movie movie The Missouri Breaks (1976): via Terrierman
Hellsgate rancher: They call this country Hell's Gate. When my dad came in here, it was nothing but a bunch of savage Indians. And Jesuits. Old Thomas Jefferson said that he was a warrior so his son could be a farmer, so *his* son could be a poet. And I raise cattle so my son can be a merchant, so his son can move to Newport, Rhode Island and buy a sailboat, and never see one of these bastard-ass sons of bitching mountains again.
Si: Who was Thomas Jefferson?
Hellsgate rancher: A guy back east.
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