North American Indian Artifacts: A Collector

Fascination with things American Indian is deeply ingrained in our culture. It began with childhood games, Cowboys and Indians. It is continually reinforced by advertising symbols, company names, movies, television, everyday conversation. No American needs to ask the meaning of these phrases: Burying the hatchet, Smoke the peacepipe, Indian Summer. And how many low-ranking military personnel have complained about: Two many chiefs, not enough Indians? The American Indian or Amerind presence is everywhere, and a healthy part of our national existence.

This partly explains the present fascination with objects made by Indians. There are today probably well over two-and-a-half million persons who collect Indian goods or are in other ways involved in the vast area.

Amerind art and artifacts have long been admired and collected in European countries and elsewhere. Americans, pioneer and recent, have largely failed to understand or appreciate the field. Only within the last few years has there been a broad groundswell of interest and attention, but Americans have now begun to accept good Amerind material as good art.

Native American art, sometimes primitive, sometimes amazingly sophisticated, has gone (in regard to marketability) far beyond the flash and fad stages. It has become a major field to be in, a heritage to be knowledgeable about, the collectibles to have.