Copper Culture Knife with Carved Ivory Handle

[Six nations son]

I was reading a few earlier posts on Arrowheads forum regarding Copper Culture artifacts. Caused me decide to post few photos of this Artifact from my collection. It may need to be in a different forum Other than Lithic? Upon adding this Artifact to my Collection. I began an exhaustive research on Copper Culture artifacts. The Handle is the mystery. It's Very Old. The Handle is Marine Ivory. The Carving seems to have some Native American attributes/design if you could call them that. The carved Feathers and the Sort of Eagle pommel and Diamond pattern gracing the mid grip area. My opinion after looking at early Ojibwa/Chippewa and North Atlantic costal tribes artifacts. Could this be a very Late Copper Culture piece with a Handle that managed to survive? A survivor from just before the first Dutch or Viking European Explorers introduced Iron Axes and implements? Quite a mystery. Years back,I sent a Dozen photos of this Artifact to one of the fellows in the field of the Copper Culture Artifacts. The Gentleman responded back that the Blade is defiantly From the copper Culture and the handle looked to possibly Date to 18th century 1700s. Well Gosh. Just hard to say. Artifacts are often Mystery pieces. They speak for themselves in their own way. I guess so to speak. One other thought I had on this Artifact. Was it Carved by some Dutch or French Wailer/Seaman along the Coast in the 1500-1600s as a gift to a "Micmac" chief? Well Gosh. there I go again letting my mind wander as it speaks to me again! Hope you enjoy!

[2ndoldman]

That is fantastic, I must also agree with your expert. the handle was added much later but that in no way takes anything away from it's beauty.
How did you acquire this piece?

[gregszybala]

Just the history of how those two pieces were combined would be interesting.

[SDhunter]

Very cool artifact. Tell us how you got it?

[Scorpion68]

Awesome piece SNS. Your mind wanderings might not be far from the truth. Beautiful craftsmanship. ...Chuck

[Six nations son]

Aquired piece in Auction years back. Not much description but being a novice knife guy. The piece peaked my interest enough to aquire it. At the time. I had no knowledge of the Copper Culture region and artifacts. It started me on a quest. It truly is a mystery piece. I did find one photo from a collection that had a C C knife with an ancient portion of a bone handle still intact. There were some tribes along pacific Coastal region up into Alaska that fashioned Copper Knives in the later Historic period. But they had different characteristics. No doubt the thousand + year old Copper Culture blade predates the handle. Could the handle been fashioned hundred years ago. Just prior to European contact as a ceremonial piece? Never be able to say for sure! It will always remain a mystery and conversation piece. Great Site! Great folks! Good times!

[Hi-Lo]

Thank you for sharing.

[Six nations son]

Wow Did I misspell the Heading for this Post " Cooper" ? Thought I spelled it right? Don't know how that happened. Well maybe a Big Chief can Edit it Correctly to COPPER. Thanks

[2ndoldman]

I saw it right off. Unfortunately I can't edit your post but one of the mods should have no problems.

[gregszybala]

Done

[Six nations son]

Hey Could I get one of the Big Chief administrators to Correct the Post Heading Spelling from Cooper to Copper ! Not sure how it turned into Cooper? After post was redirected to this forum. Maybe I misspelled it originally? But don't think so. Anyway. I tried editing it but could not accomplish the task. Thanks!

[JoshinMO]

I didn't catch it until second time i glanced at topic, might be stuck like that but we know what it means/no biggee. Nice knife You have!

[Six nations son]

Hah hah. Well Josh Beings I'm six Decades old now. I guess I got an excuse to make a mistake now and then. Hey Thanks Partner! Happy Thankgiving!

[painshill]

Both items are fabulous, but I can't see any way that they could possibly belong together in the sense of having been assembled by the contemporary owner of the blade. The knife blade has spent some considerable time in the ground to reach the condition that it's in and cannot have been curated by its original maker or owner. The ivory or bone handle clearly hasn't spent that kind of time in the ground. It has a beautiful patina that suggests it hasn't been buried for any significant period of time, if at all.

None of that takes anything away from the two items, but I think they should be considered as unrelated and were put together more recently for the purposes of making a really nice display item.

[Six nations son]

I have never, nor any individual with knowledge of Copper Culture artifacts would conclude the Ivory Handle was crafted at same time the Copper was Hammered and Fashioned into a knife. They are from different periods. The Gentleman that I sent the 12 photos of this artifact to. Who is an Authority on Copper Culture Artifacts stated in response. The Blade is defiantly Copper Culture. The Handle later period, looks to be around 18th century was his estimation. Know way to really know. Did New England Coastal tribes or other original inhabitants have a few Copper implements from the Prior Copper Culture in their possession just before European Contact or around that time? Well most likely they did. They used Stone ,Bone ,Flint ,antler and anything they had at their disposal. And probably would make use of a few Earlier Implements of Copper that were lying around the Great Lakes region and beyond. I posted this because it is interesting. Things like this cause people to research and learn about new things. Toss around ideas. And Wonder. Speaking of!! There's a Theory that's out there in regards to the Huge Estimated amount of Copper that was Dug out of Wisconson and MI. Where did it all end up? Check out the Web and you'll find some interesting theory's of possible Ships and Explorers from across the Atlantic that may have landed prior to 1500,s and mined it with the help of natives,and transported it back during the Copper/bronze age overseas! Who Knows? We don't know it all that's for sure. Stone Markers were found in Great Lakes Region that have Viking/ or Norlander symbols. When the Colonists landed they found some Natives with Blue Eyes!! Pretty Wild Stuff! Hey Happy Thanksgiving to All! God Bless

[painshill]

You missed the point that I was making. It's not about whether the two items could be contemporaneous in terms of when they were made. They clearly aren't. We're all in agreement about that. It's about why a knife blade that has clearly been in the ground for a long time (and has deteriorated to the extent that it's unusable as such) would be inserted into an an unweathered handle in great condition. Or if you want to believe that the blade was inserted into the handle while the blade was still in a useable condition, why the two items did not then weather to similar extents if the knife was buried as an assembled item. You see the problem here?

[Six nations son]

Oh forgot to add. Is it possible the Handle was stuck on the Copper Blade in recent times for Display? Well maybe? Doesn't look that way as the Blade is Encrusted into the Ivory. But who knows? Don't think I want to try monkeying with it. I'll just enjoy it

[Six nations son]

Appreciate your input. I understood your point . I leave it as a mystery as I stated when I posted it. The Carved handle is not utilitarian, gives the impression of ceremonial or sacred. The Ivory appears very old. I have a couple Ivory handled Bowie,s.from 1850s. This Ivory looks much older. Hard to fake age Ivory. But not knowing the climate this thing was in? The Copper was blade is worn /oxidization and breakdown ,and seen time in ground. Yes agreed. the Handle could have been mated to the blade in recent times. Don't rule that out. other possibilitys?

[Six nations son]

While digging out other artifacts. I thought I'd take/post some better up close photos.