Featured The most important, most historic, and best known American tomahawk extant

Some auction catalogs never seem to lack for superlatives when describing unique, top-of-the-line historic items. Once in a great while, the superlatives don’t seem adequate. That would be the case with Morphy Auctions’ three-day “doubleheader” firearms auction May 27-29 in Denver, Pennsylvania. The star of the sale was a magnificent early tomahawk, trumpeted as “arguably the most important, most historic, most well decorated and best known American tomahawk in existence.”
https://www.maineantiquedigest.com/..._nERI5Vkj_ZJa-5YM8xXQMyfPfCzQ8-ayYUhi2QFlTNUY

Historic and unique tomahawk made for Lieutenant John McClellan by Fort Pitt armorer Richard Butler, carried by McClellan while he was part of the 1775 march through the wilderness of Maine led by Colonel Benedict Arnold, $664,200 (est. $300,000/500,000).

 

Impressive piece of history!

 

Impressive price tag too! 664K for a Tomahawk? YIKES!
I don't care if Benedict Arnold carved his name with it on West Point's front door! that's a serious chunk of change.

 

For someone with deep pockets, they probably didn't even think twice.

 

True!

 

Wow Wow Wowwy Wow!! What a great piece, thank you for sharing.

 

That's a lot of plews for a small axe.

 

You could probably have some one duplicate it for a couple of thousand dollars.

 

Yes probably but, that ignores the historical significance of the object and what makes it so valuable.

 

EXTREMELY IMPRESSIVE!!!!!!! NICE Chunkachange!!!! BUT, does it matter if he couldn't spell McClellan?????? OR at least it LOOKS that way..........

 

Hmmmmm, not sure on spelling but, is this a "pipe" tomahawk?
Looks like it to me with @Aquitaine photo enlargement.
" Pipe tomahawks are artifacts unique to North America: created by Europeans as trade objects but often exchanged as diplomatic gifts.[1] They were symbols of the choice Europeans and Native Americans faced whenever they met: one end was the pipe of peace, the other an ax of war."

 

It's definitely a pipe tomahawk.

 

The first thing I noticed about it.

He could have been right. I know the name as MacLellan, from the Scottish clan MacLellan and MacLellan's Castle in Kirkcudbright, Scotland:


https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/kirkcudbright/maclellanscastle/index.html

 

Yes is, read the article more thoroughly, threaded bowl

Dunno but this is interesting, they were on a military mission to capture Quebec Canada. I dimly remember from school we had visions of taking Canada/ the British out of the war by invading, didn't work out but very cool that this object was a part of that effort.
"Lieutenant John McClellan also hailed from Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and he carried the tomahawk during the Revolutionary War. He was under the command of Colonel Benedict Arnold on Arnold’s 1775 march through the wilderness of Maine on his way to the ill-fated siege of Quebec, and on that expedition McClellan met his end. Journals of the invasion record that McClellan contracted pneumonia, his bateau capsized, and he perished from the ordeal. Upon his passing the tomahawk was given to his brother Daniel, who continued on to Quebec, where he was captured by the British. A British officer seized the tomahawk along with the rest of Daniel’s possessions. Eventually it was taken to England and displayed as an object of curiosity from the wars in America. In later years, it passed through the hands of a number of prominent collectors and dealers, including Kelly Kinzle, who had offered it for sale at the 2015 Winter Antiques Show for a reported $1.2 million. Finally it came to auction at Morphy, where it was purchased by a private individual, along with a large collection of historical and provenance documentation, for $664,200

 

I don't think it matters, many family names from Europe were "Americanized", mine for instance, used to be spelled Konrad but somewhere along the way became Conrad. Not sure why though.

 

In the 1700's spelling was rather fluid. There was not a strong sense of agreed upon spelling. It was largely up to the writer. In my family which had an English name (so no Americanization involved), I have a memoir written by a fellow born in Virginia in the 1760's (so he was literate). He spelled his surname one way. His son, born in the 1790's, and also literate, added to the narrative, but spelled the same surname differently. Having read a lot of early colonial American writing, I think most people, if literate, were not terribly concerned with spelling. Add to this that there were so many illiterate people that there was often no handed down standard spelling of their name. So it doesn't really even make sense to say "couldn't spell McClellan" because they could spell it however they wished. And however they spelled it was right.

 

AND, that's the REST of the STORY!!!! Great one at that!!!! LOVE all the information!!!!