Oglala Pictograph with Photo
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GUEST:
My great-grandfather had a private museum in Iowa Falls, Iowa. When he passed away about 1952 or '53, this was one of the pieces that was in that private museum that my family kept. The rest of the items were all sold at auction. When my grandmother passed away a few years ago, this was one of the items in her house that I had always enjoyed seeing and I kept.
APPRAISER:
Let's take a look at the back of this one. It has a little history on it. "This painting came from Cannonball Region, North Dakota, hand-painted by Indian girl, sent in the early 1900s, valuable. Ogalala chief, Pineridge Sioux." Probably the most interesting point about the painting: it comes from a long history of pictographic art by the Plains Indians. Towards the end of the 19th century, they started changing their style a little and they had the Indian actually facing you instead of in profile. It's a beautiful watercolor. It shows all the regalia of an Ogalala chief. And it has the photo of the woman who painted it, and that's the great part about it. Women generally never did pictographs. This is the first one I've ever seen by a woman artist.
GUEST:
Is that right?
APPRAISER:
He's clearly an Ogalala with a beautiful blanket strip, a nice horse blanket on the horse. The horse is very classically done in the Plains Indian style. And the photo of "Indian girl," as it said. It's quite a unique, beautiful piece.
GUEST:
Thank you.
APPRAISER:
Value-wise, I would probably say $2,500 to $3,500.
GUEST:
Oh, wow, that's wonderful. It's been a real treasure in our family and we'll keep it in our family.
APPRAISER:
Well, it's beautiful; I would, too, if it was mine.
GUEST:
Thank you.
Appraisal Details
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