Frontiersman's Pipe Tomahawk, ca. 1785
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GUEST:
The tomahawk came to me from my grandmother. It was handed down in the family. It originally came, I understand, a lady came from Philadelphia and married into the family and brought that with her. Now, my grandmother gave it to me years ago and it's been in a closet ever since.
APPRAISER:
Well, let me tell you, this was a wonderful frontiersman's tomahawk. It was made for a man that would go out in the frontier with probably a rifle, and maybe he was a fur trader, maybe he was a soldier. I probably think he was a soldier. It was made by a gunsmith in Pennsylvania or Virginia around 1780 or 1790. It's wonderful. It has this early Federal eagle, which is very, very hard to find. It has this silver medallion, engraved "G.W.", and we can think it was George Washington that might have given this tomahawk to somebody whose initials are "J.H.", which could have been Josiah Harmar or John Harden. They were soldiers in the 1780s and '90s. And a tomahawk like this is very scarce. It's a national treasure, in my opinion, and very seldom turns up. It's curly maple. When you were a young man, you lost the cap which kept this head on.
GUEST:
I was always beating on stumps with it.
APPRAISER:
And you lost the silver mouthpiece, but still, there's enough of it here. It's just a wonderful, wonderful piece of 18th-century frontier Americana. Do you have any idea of the value?
GUEST:
Not a clue.
APPRAISER:
Well, if you had an idea when you were playing with it, you might have been more careful. But if I were going to offer this tomahawk in my shop or at a show, I would ask $150,000. I think it's worth every bit of that.
GUEST:
My God...
APPRAISER:
It's just a wonderful piece of Americana.
GUEST:
Wow, I'm stunned.
APPRAISER:
Well, there are probably 30 of this quality that I've seen. There aren't a lot of tomahawks like this. So I thank you very much for bringing it in. And don't play with it anymore.
GUEST:
It will not beat any more stumps. Thank you so much, I appreciate it.
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