Artifact or Artifake Sioux War Axe?

[SevenOut]

I purchased some Artifacts from an Estate of a Petroleum Geologist. I was buying the geological library and was offered meteorites, various rocks and minerals and what ever else caught my attention. There was a "collection" of points that were being collected from A to Z as type points and not for sale. He must have paid too much for them. From what I looked at in the nice display cases were nothing special, suspicious as to authenticity for Paleo material and some Museum Paleo points for types.
There were a number of ground axes and small celts that were obviously genuine and of low quality. I did purchase a nice 3/4 grooved axe, and large well ground celt and a small grooved axe with a Missouri location and possible glacial till stone but more like a Southwest axe type.
Now, now you have the basic background. I have made photographs of this "Sioux War Axe from Wounded Knee". I purchased it for the price of the nicely made walnut case. My assumption is this is an Artifake, but nicely made.
What is your first impression? I am a geologist and not an archaeologist, although I sell books in the geological sciences and archaeology, I have no way to know what I am working with this time! This takes some experienced collector that can immediately glance and suggest what to check out or may know WHO is making these. It is well made. Shows no use. Just too clean and perfect to me. Any comments?

[Olden]

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Hey Seven,
My first thoughts are that it's way too pretty (and glamorized) - probably post 1900s and made to sell when the press couldn't get enough of the West and Indian battles. Sitting Bull was probably on tour with Buffalo Bill at the time.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/castlekay/4527007592/lightbox/

These were probably more of the authentic type used at the time of the massacre of Wounded Knee.

http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?_adv_prop=image&fr=chr-greentree_ff&va=authentic+Sioux+War+club

Just my opinion though - I'm no expert, and don't play one on TV ~

[CliffJ]

I think a lot more modern than that. I've never seen a grooved axe that was not hafted in the groove but on the high spot next to the groove! One whack on a noggin and the head will fly out. Of course, it never whacked anything. Everything about it looks brand new IMO.

[painshill]

I understood that changes to Federal Law which took effect in 1990 required the return of items taken from the dead at the Wounded Knee “battlefield” (more accurately a massacre site) to the Oglala Sioux tribe or the Wounded Knee Survivors Association. In 1993, a lawyer acting for the association sought to recover more than 100 artefacts on display at the museum of the Barre Library in Massachusssetts. This represented the largest known collection of items stripped from the bodies of the dead and included beaded shirts and purses, suede leggings, wooden pipes, scalps and some braided locks of hair believed to have come from Chief Big Foot (Spotted Elk) who was killed in the massacre. The association’s desire was that the items should be buried with the bones of the deceased at the Wounded Knee Memorial in South Dakota. The lawyer was also seeking a grant such that tribal artists could be paid to create replicas of the non-sacred items in the collection for the museum to keep.
But I think Cliff is right. It’s a modern item and the construction is for show only without any consideration of function. The axe-head itself is also of a style that significantly pre-dates the 1890’s but none of the rest of it suggests anything like that degree of antiquity. And if the only thing that connects it to Wounded Knee is that paper label then I don’t think I would be too concerned about returning it to the tribe. 
The Miniconjou and Hunkpapa (Lakota Sioux) bands that the US Cavalry escorted to Wounded Knee Creek with the intention of disarming them were equipped with modern weaponry in the form of rifles and pistols. It’s possible that there were war axes within the group, but they would have been ceremonial or status symbols, not fighting weapons but nevertheless still constructed in a “form-fits-function” manner.
Wounded Knee “relics” need to be treated with a high degree of scepticism. After the event (in fact for a long time after), there was a roaring trade in items for the “collector market” with demand far outstripping supply. That imbalance was addressed by subsequent theft from the cabins back at the Lakota Pine Ridge Reservation, fictitious heritage, outright fakery and also exploited by the non-participant Oglala people back on the reservation selling purpose-made items which had no connection to the massacre.
I’ve attached an interesting article which talks about the collector frenzy for artefacts in the period after the massacre.
  WoundedKneeRelics.pdf

[SevenOut]

Wounded Knee “relics” need to be treated with a high degree of scepticism. After the event (in fact for a long time after), there was a roaring trade in items for the “collector market” with demand far outstripping supply. That imbalance was addressed by subsequent theft from the cabins back at the Lakota Pine Ridge Reservation, fictitious heritage, outright fakery and also exploited by the non-participant Oglala people back on the reservation selling purpose-made items which had no connection to the massacre.
I’ve attached an interesting article which talks about the collector frenzy for artefacts in the period after the massacre.
  WoundedKneeRelics.pdf
**********
Thank you for your very informative reply.  The Nebraska Historical Society article added as much to your generous offering of information.  Your comments and the article make perfect sense and the obvious "clean" artifake.  The "war axe" was nicely made, date and place uncertain, but does look nice in the walnut display ordered to display a bit of marketing and curiosity over such a low point in Indian and US Government trust.
Early posters, thank you as well.  All of you were on the right track and it makes 100% sense to my suspicions.  Imagine that for my first asking for any help from the community!  Thank you.

[rmartin]

I have to agree with the consensus. It definitely shows no sign of age or the use it would have encountered as a genuine weapon. It does make a nice display and since you have accepted it for what it is, take the label out and use it for a decorative item.

[SevenOut]

This was posted some years ago. The card that was with this was obviously mistaken. I took photographs at the time and have removed this.

An archaeologist viewed my photographs and said he dates it late 19th Century or early 20th Century Tourist Item. The stone is an unfinished pipe and not drilled out. The stitching is vintage and typical for the tourist trade. The Axe is much too large and heavy for the diameter of the handle to keep from snapping the first attempt to hit anything solid with someone holding it. I did have an offer to purchase from a business that displays historical Sioux material at Crow Agency, South Dakota in their store. He made me a generous offer, but I still do not have any additional information what I have, yet.

An archaeologist emailed me some years ago and from what he saw, it was intended for the tourist trade. The 'War Axe' card is totally misleading as Steel was the preferred material during the historical period. I asked the museum east of the Cook Ranch in Agate, Nebraska after describing it. They had only clothing and similar items in the museum as their expertise. I did not have the 'axe' with me.

The stitching is done by someone well versed in this technique with actual skill. The stone appears to me to be Steatite / Soapstone, although I have not taken a Quartz Crystal to test it for a hardness of 7. I may have to on some obscure surface area.

This has no signs of use, as it was intended as a wall hanger and useless otherwise. I purchased this among other walnut display cases as a group of odds and ends. The 'axe' provides some attraction that I even found mysterious, as the previous owner obviously thought highly of it to have a walnut display case made for it. Several months later those who sold it to me, among a UHaul truck full of books and 'stuff' offered me a $1500 for it.

I tossed a price back to them and they called me 'greedy'. I am not a collector but occasionally something is found that might be more than what is obvious to me at this moment.

This item caught my attention, as I have said before. These people were anxious to sell it, among anything else I wanted, with my fair offer for the 'axe' and other display cases. Two U Haul trucks of anything I wanted were settled for. I was hoping to find an original receipt from an original seller inside the case. None was found. Obviously those who sold me the items... FOUND the receipt and what it was.

Now you know the rest of the story. I have collected Indian Artifacts walking fields since 1965 as a kid in Missouri and other places. My brother is an accomplished Flint Knapper and we both understand obvious fakes intended to fool a novice. We both agreed that his is not recent manufacture. This is well made but... as of today, almost 9 years later... nothing to solve the mystery. A true counterfeit would have used a steel or brass axe. Not some clunky stone axe on a delicate handle over three feet long.

Obviously not intended to fool someone with experience, but a tourist... fair game, I say.