In the earliest known photograph of the great Chief Joseph, leader of the Nez Perce Wallowa band, he is wearing this beaded and fringed war shirt. The picture was taken following his surrender to General Oliver Howard on October 5, 1877, after Joseph’s famous 1700-mile flight, in which he led his people across the mountains of Montana toward the freedom of Canada. Along the way, he held off the American army in 18 engagements and 4 major battles. One of the rarest of American Indian artifacts, it’s valued at $800,000m-$1.2m at a Coeur d’Alene auction tomorrow in Reno, Nevada.When he began his 4-month flight in June 1877, Joseph’s band consisted of 750 people, including 500 women and children, all their camp gear and equipment, and a huge herd of horses. To have moved them such a vast distance and stood off the American forces through so many actions was considered a singular achievement. Finally, however, the loss of many of his men, and the onslaught of winter forced his surrender, in which he famously said, “Hear me my chiefs. I am tired; my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands I will fight no more forever.”
Chief Joseph War Shirt May Reach $1.2m
July 20, 2012
More Than $150,000 Expected For Totem Used As Coat Stand
February 11, 2013For the past 30 years, it’s been used as a coat stand in a home in Dorset, England. Then an auctioneer, visiting to assess the value of some other items, happened to see it, draped with coats and scarves in a back room of the house. Next week the early 20th century Native American totem pole will be auctioned at Dukes in Dorchester, where it’s expected to sell for as much as $157,000.
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Coeur d’Alene Art Sale Realizes $17.2m
July 23, 2012The Chief Joseph war shirt, which is pictured in the first photograph of the celebrated Nez Perce warrior following his surrender in 1877, is among the most prized Native American artifacts, and its price at an auction this weekend reflected it: the beaded and fringed shirt sold, within estimates, for a substantial $877,500. It wasn’t, however, the most expensive lot at the Coeur d’Alene auction in Reno, billed as the world’s largest Western Art sale. “Scout’s Report,” a painting by Howard Terpning, realized $994,500, and Frank Tenny Johnson’s “Cowboys Roping the Bear” closed at $965,250.
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Bierstadt Landscapes Lead Coeur d’Alene Sale
July 16, 2012Although born in Germany, Alfred Bierstadt came to the United States when he was just a year old. Long associated with the Hudson River School of painting, he made a number of trips through the American west, which resulted in the sweeping western landscapes for which he became so well known. Two of those works—“Sunset Over The Plains” (1887) and “The Hetch Hetchy Valley”(1873)– are featured in a sale of 19th & 20th century Western and American art at Coeur d’Alene Auctions, in which each is estimated at $500,000-$700,000.
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Rising Value of Unrestored Cars
By Malcolm Welford, Vintage Car Specialist
