Post by blackcrowheart on Feb 5, 2006 18:31:05 GMT -5
Indian artifacts up for sale today
Collector says they came from Wisconsin
BY PATRICK SULLIVAN
Record-Eagle staff writer
BUCKLEY - Archeologist Jennifer Kolb suspects there's real value to a collection of Indian artifacts that will be auctioned today, but she's not sure how much money it's worth.
The artifacts, described as paleo, archaic, woodland and Mississippian Indian, were collected over several decades from farms in southern Wisconsin, said the owner of the collection, Traverse City resident Mark Herfel.
Because Herfel knows where he found the objects, they could help historians understand a lot more about early cultures, Kolb said.
"That just makes that particular collection all the more valuable and important," she said. "I'm not talking about it monetarily, I'm talking about the information. ... I'm sure the state archeologist here in Wisconsin would be interested in hearing about that collection."
Kolb said she hoped to collect as much information about the objects as she could from Herfel.
Some American Indian groups have contested such sales and protested museum and academic collections of artifacts and remains. But Herfel said he legally collected the objects because he found them on the surface of farms and had landowners' permission.
Kolb agreed that collecting surface objects with permission on private property is legal.
Herfel, who lived most of his life in Wisconsin, said he is selling part of his collection to raise money to buy a home.
The collection includes arrowheads, stone tools and moccasins. A notable item is a flute estimated to be more than 1,200 years old, said auctioneer Rebecca Lawrence.
Lawrence has not valued the entire collection, but she expects the flute, which plays four notes and is just three inches long, will fetch $700 to $1,000. She hopes a very old bowl will go for as much as $1,500.
The collection includes hundreds of arrowheads, which vary in price. Broken arrowheads typically sell for under $10 but arrowheads in better condition can sell in the hundreds of dollars, Lawrence said.
"He started at the age of seven and he's 45 right now," Lawrence said. "As the farmers would till up the land, these items would come to the surface."
John Petoskey, general council for the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, said the items would likely not hold much interest for the tribe because they are from Wisconsin, outside the tribe's region.
"It's the tribe that's in that area that has the right to raise that question vis-à-vis the federal government," Petoskey said.
He said artifacts could be protected by the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, but only if they were found on federal land.
The auction will take place today at noon at 155 Industrial Drive, Buckley.
www.record-eagle.com/2006/feb/04auction.htm
Collector says they came from Wisconsin
BY PATRICK SULLIVAN
Record-Eagle staff writer
BUCKLEY - Archeologist Jennifer Kolb suspects there's real value to a collection of Indian artifacts that will be auctioned today, but she's not sure how much money it's worth.
The artifacts, described as paleo, archaic, woodland and Mississippian Indian, were collected over several decades from farms in southern Wisconsin, said the owner of the collection, Traverse City resident Mark Herfel.
Because Herfel knows where he found the objects, they could help historians understand a lot more about early cultures, Kolb said.
"That just makes that particular collection all the more valuable and important," she said. "I'm not talking about it monetarily, I'm talking about the information. ... I'm sure the state archeologist here in Wisconsin would be interested in hearing about that collection."
Kolb said she hoped to collect as much information about the objects as she could from Herfel.
Some American Indian groups have contested such sales and protested museum and academic collections of artifacts and remains. But Herfel said he legally collected the objects because he found them on the surface of farms and had landowners' permission.
Kolb agreed that collecting surface objects with permission on private property is legal.
Herfel, who lived most of his life in Wisconsin, said he is selling part of his collection to raise money to buy a home.
The collection includes arrowheads, stone tools and moccasins. A notable item is a flute estimated to be more than 1,200 years old, said auctioneer Rebecca Lawrence.
Lawrence has not valued the entire collection, but she expects the flute, which plays four notes and is just three inches long, will fetch $700 to $1,000. She hopes a very old bowl will go for as much as $1,500.
The collection includes hundreds of arrowheads, which vary in price. Broken arrowheads typically sell for under $10 but arrowheads in better condition can sell in the hundreds of dollars, Lawrence said.
"He started at the age of seven and he's 45 right now," Lawrence said. "As the farmers would till up the land, these items would come to the surface."
John Petoskey, general council for the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, said the items would likely not hold much interest for the tribe because they are from Wisconsin, outside the tribe's region.
"It's the tribe that's in that area that has the right to raise that question vis-à-vis the federal government," Petoskey said.
He said artifacts could be protected by the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, but only if they were found on federal land.
The auction will take place today at noon at 155 Industrial Drive, Buckley.
www.record-eagle.com/2006/feb/04auction.htm