Three Navajo rattles
Three Navajo rattles
Including two rare flat-top rattles, with hide wrapped about the corncob handle, a flattened disc at top containing the rattle pellets; and a hoof rattle, various animal "toes" clustered at top, buffalo hide fringe suspensions.
length 7 - 12in

Sold for US$ 2,000 inc. premium

Footnotes

  • Provenance:
    Richard Corrow Collection, Apache Junction, Arizona; obtained from a Santa Fe trader

    Flat Top Rattle
    Rarest of all Navajo rattles. Specific only for Beautyway, and not part of Blessingway. A (required) badger hide is shaped over a round wooden foundation, sinew-sewn then formed around a corncob previously chewed off by a prairie dog or ground squirrel. Rainbows are then painted on the sides. Beautyway chant is near extinct and these rattles are rarely seen.

    Hoof Rattle
    These unique rattles belong to the Life Chant or Flint Chant exclusively. Lifeway or Flintway may be called for following an injury requiring immediate attention. The rattles are made from hide, strips cut in the manner of fringe, and to the ends of each strip of fringe are tied buffalo, deer, elk, and antelope "toes" from hoofs. The whole is then rolled to its finished shape and wrapped with a strip. At the very least, a strip of buffalo hide must be attached to the rattle to be effective.

Category: Ethnographic Art / Native American


Auction terms and conditions

Contacts

Jim Haas Bonhams
Work
220 San Bruno Avenue
San Francisco, 94103
United States
Work +1 415 503 3294
FaxFax: +1 415 503 3300
Specialist - Native American

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