Featured 17 Inch Kachina Purchased at an Estate sale.

Hello everyone! I've been following the forum for several years now, and love learning new information about items I collect. I purchased this Kachina along with another the same size at an estate sale here in the Atlanta area. The person running the sale was also an antique auctioneer. He told me that this was a rare kachina. It is large, about 17 inches tall and signed on the bottom, which I can't read. Also "Long Snout Ogre" is written on the bottom. I would like to learn more about this Hopi artwork. I am thinking of selling it after enjoying it for a year on my mantel. Any suggestions about how to go about this and where to sell would be greatly appreciated. The auctioneer said that in the right area and with right group of purchasers that it was worth $800. Any information you can enlighten me with, would greatly be appreciate. I will be out of town tomorrow (Wed 24th) and will come back on the forum on Thursday if you need more information from me.

 

It looks like a representation of Wiharu, White Ogre, but @Taupou will know.

I see listings where J. Creek is identified as Navajo, I don't know if that is true. If he is, then this is not a Hopi Kachina.
The base looks like a more modern interpretation. It looks nice, but is not traditional as far as I know.
I haven't seen the value the auctioneer mentioned for J. Creek carvings.

 

I see a signature of "J. Creek" too. A Google Image search will bring up other kachinas by an artist of that name.

Debora

 

Thank you for deciphering his signature. I will look him up. I think the date it was made is on the bottom just under the kachina's name.

 

It says 09.75.

 

this one is on ebay for $499. Same size as mine. I like mine better.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Sweet-KACH...026068?hash=item2890bd7094:g:QxMAAOSwJe9ednqn

 

Thanks Any Jewelry. So I'm assuming it was created Sept 1975.

 

So am I.

 

A safe assumption, I'd think!

Debora

 

I haven't found any easily-located info identifying the artist. Several sale sites say it is "renowned Hopi artist J. Creek." But if renowned, why is there no online information? True, some things are not online. But one wonders. Also, nobody says where they got the attribution "Hopi" related to this artist. It's likely that a lot of copying and assumptions are happening.

That all being said, I do like the work of this artist!

 

I do not know for sure, but he strikes me as probably Navajo made. I am looking at the use of fur and leather, which do not appear as much on Hopi carvings, and the minimalist treatment of the sash. The sash is an important part of the costume, and usually well detailed on Hopi carvings.

 

My first thought was, also, that it appeared to be Navajo, based on the size alone. The large size is usually associated with Navajo carvings, rather than Hopi kachina dolls. For a brief time in the mid-1960s, over-sized pieces were carved, but the practice was quickly changed, when it was found they didn't sell as well as smaller kachina dolls.

For what it's worth, "J. Creek" is evidently not "renowned" enough to be included in Gregory Schaaf's Hopi Katsina, 1600 Artist Biographies. Considering that the size of the Hopi tribe is a fraction of that of the Navajo, and that Gregory Schaaf is a respected author and researcher, I would expect an entry, since pretty much every Hopi kachina doll carver, especially one who is described as renowned, would be included.

I would also doubt that is a correct date, since this type of base or stand wasn't made at that time, at least by the Hopi. In the 1970s, a simple slice of cottonwood root was the standard mount, if there was one.

It also is problematic in that it should be painted with white leggings and shirt, if it is meant to be a White Ogre. He doesn't resemble any of the Ogres, though, in that he doesn't have characteristic blue arm bands. Plus, none is known as simply a "Long Snout Ogre," and it would be considered by many to be irreverent for a Hopi carver to identify it as such.

So I would have to say that I doubt that this is an authentic Hopi kachina doll, despite the listings on line, unless someone can come up with more proof than simply their claim that it is.

 

@Taupou @Any Jewelry - AJ identified that it doesn't actual say 'Ogre', it says: 09.75, making the name of the piece "Long Snout".

 

I guess I wasn't clear. I read the word as "Ogre," since if it read "09.75" it wouldn't be a correct date for the way the base is made, for one thing.

The "0" is an "O," the "9" is a "g," the "." is what remains of the stem on the "R," and the last letter is what happened when the raised part of the wood interfered with writing the "E."

It makes more sense to say "Ogre" since that is a category of kachinas, than to write "09.75" since kachina dolls are rarely, if ever, dated. And that would not be the way a date would be written.

I have since done a web search for "J. Creek kachina" which seems to confirm that it is Navajo. (None of the signatures are dated, by the way.) At least there are as many identified as Navajo as those identified as Hopi. Some are obviously Navajo, in their use of fur, leather, feathers, and fabric, as well as the fact that few are accurate depictions of Hopi kachinas. Some are better made than others, plus some also appear to be signed by different hands, although "J. Creek" is supposedly the carver on all of them.

I would suspect that they are not only Navajo, but "assembly line" factory items, made for the unsuspecting tourist, some better done than others.

 

yup, that sez ogre..

 

I thought the same, and there are a lot out there.

 

So sorry that I attached so many copies of the 2nd Kachina I purchased at the Estate. Your comments were so informative I thought you might have something to say about this one. The owner had 8 different kachinas. I purchased the 2. This one is 18 inches tall and has more information on the bottom about the creator of it.

 

Thank you Bookahtoo. I really appreciate all the informative information about my listing. This group is so full of knowledge. I'm assuming the 2nd kachina is also Navajo created. There seem to be a lot of misc. information about Sarah Lameman or Sarah Vandever on the internet. Not much about her pieces though. The one I found on Ebay wasn't that valuable.