19th C Plains Dance Pewter Tomahawk with Provenance

The head on this piece is cast Pewter with engraved designs on both sides of the blade and around the bowl.  This piece was never intended to be smoked as the inside of the bowl is hollowed out but solid and there is no hole through stem.  The stem is decorated with diagonal rows of brass tacks and the surface decorated with a hot file.  The head is loose but will not come off.

The piece was collected by Lt Gordon Voorhies, 1891 graduate of West Point, between 1891 and August 1892 and was passed down through his family.  Following graduation from West Point, he was assigned to the 25th Infantry at Ft Buford in North Dakota.  On April 19, 1892, he was appointed to command the detachment of Indian Scouts at the fort.  In August, 1892 he was transferred to the 4th Cavalry at Ft Walla Walla.  He resigned from the army in 1897 and rejoined in 1898 to serving as Assistant Adjutant General of US Volunteers during the Spanish-American War.  He resigned in 1899 and rejoined in 1917 and served in France and Belgium and received the Belgium Croix de Guerre for his service in the Lys-Scheldt offensive and retired in 1919 as a Lt Colonel.

L. of head 8 3/4"; l of handle 17 3/4" 

c.1890
Sold #7852



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