Sticks and Stones Can Break Your Bank
PBS star and auction house founder Wes Cowan reveals his favorite collectibles.
By: Wes Cowan 07/01/2008
When the noted frontier photographer David F. Barry moved his studio from Bismarck, North Dakota, to Superior, Wisconsin, in 1890, he brought with him his collection of glass plate negatives and a sizeable group of Indian Wars artifacts he had collected over the years. After Barry’s death, most of his negatives were purchased by the Denver Public Library and are today part of that institution’s Western History Division. His collection of artifacts were purchased and donated to the Douglas County Historical Society in Superior. Among the collection was a worn camp chair given to Barry by the postmaster at Fort Abraham Lincoln. In a famous photograph, George A. Custer is seen sitting in such a chair with Bloody Knife, his favorite Arikara scout, crouching beside him (see opposite page). The provenance accompanying the chair was fairly conclusive. Barry’s handwritten catalog of his collection records “item number 63 Genl Custer’s Army Camp Chair received from Mr. Cannon. Postmaster Fort Abraham Lincoln.” In addition, the chair was noted in newspaper articles in 1897, 1903 and 1934 as being part of the Barry collection, and it had been photographed in various exhibits and illustrated in publications dealing with Barry and his life on the frontier. In 2004, the Douglas County Historical Society invited me to visit Superior to assess its Barry Collection. Unfortunately, sometime in the 1970s, most of Barry’s Indian artifacts were stolen and never recovered. The chair, along with hundreds of original Barry photographs, remained. The Society’s board recognized that the chair had little to do with their main focus—the history of Superior and Douglas County—and made the decision to sell the chair at auction. My company was chosen to market this remarkable artifact.Once the bidding opened, determined collectors from across the U.S. showed their interest. When the hammer fell moments later, the chair had sold for more than $56,000.
In the same auction, Cowan’s was fortunate to include remarkable artifacts collected by the late Col. Alfred B. Welch, a turn-of-the-20th-century businessman in Mandan, North Dakota, who became interested in the Sioux and their involvement with the Custer massacre. Over the course of a number of years, he interviewed many of the Indian participants in the battle and collected artifacts related to the event. Included among his collection was a folded and much worn military discharge for Bloody Knife, Custer’s trusted scout, for the six-month enlistment period beginning May 30–November 30, 1874. Bloody Knife was 34 years old at the time, and described as five feet and eight inches tall with “dark” complexion, and with “black” hair and eyes. The discharge paper was signed by two notable 7th Cavalry figures: G.A. Custer, as a brevet major general commanding, attesting to the character of Bloody Knife, and Lt. James C. Calhoun, as Chief of Indian Scouts. Calhoun noted: “An excellent and reliable scout.” Bloody Knife was born about 1840, the product of the marriage between an Arikara woman and Hunkpapa Sioux father. He grew up in the same camp as Gall, the Hunkpapa war chief. As a mixed-blood, Bloody Knife’s relationship with Gall was marked by animosity and, ultimately, extreme hatred. Forced from the Hunkpapa camp at an early age, Bloody Knife would never forget the brutality he experienced. By the early 1860s, Bloody Knife was livingat Fort Berthold in North Dakota and hadfound employment with white traders serving as a guide, interpreter, mail carrier and hunter. In 1866, when President Andrew Johnson signed the Indian Scout Enlistment Act authorizing a force of Indian Scouts, Bloody Knife was a perfect candidate; he first enlisted on May 1, 1868. He’d serve a total of 11 hitches.
In the same auction, Cowan’s was fortunate to include remarkable artifacts collected by the late Col. Alfred B. Welch, a turn-of-the-20th-century businessman in Mandan, North Dakota, who became interested in the Sioux and their involvement with the Custer massacre. Over the course of a number of years, he interviewed many of the Indian participants in the battle and collected artifacts related to the event. Included among his collection was a folded and much worn military discharge for Bloody Knife, Custer’s trusted scout, for the six-month enlistment period beginning May 30–November 30, 1874. Bloody Knife was 34 years old at the time, and described as five feet and eight inches tall with “dark” complexion, and with “black” hair and eyes. The discharge paper was signed by two notable 7th Cavalry figures: G.A. Custer, as a brevet major general commanding, attesting to the character of Bloody Knife, and Lt. James C. Calhoun, as Chief of Indian Scouts. Calhoun noted: “An excellent and reliable scout.” Bloody Knife was born about 1840, the product of the marriage between an Arikara woman and Hunkpapa Sioux father. He grew up in the same camp as Gall, the Hunkpapa war chief. As a mixed-blood, Bloody Knife’s relationship with Gall was marked by animosity and, ultimately, extreme hatred. Forced from the Hunkpapa camp at an early age, Bloody Knife would never forget the brutality he experienced. By the early 1860s, Bloody Knife was livingat Fort Berthold in North Dakota and hadfound employment with white traders serving as a guide, interpreter, mail carrier and hunter. In 1866, when President Andrew Johnson signed the Indian Scout Enlistment Act authorizing a force of Indian Scouts, Bloody Knife was a perfect candidate; he first enlisted on May 1, 1868. He’d serve a total of 11 hitches.
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