Rare Missouri War Axe by Dunlop & Florer, ca. 1850-1860

Description

The Missouri War axe, also known as the Mandon War axe, was a type of tomahawk used
by the Osage, Pawnee, Mandon, Omaha, Sauk-Fox, and Comanche tribes. Since these
tribes lacked the knowledge and ability to forge their own iron products, they were obtained
as trade goods from frontiersmen and trading posts. This example was made at the
Dunlop & Florer Trading Post, ca. 1850-1860, at Pawhuska Oklahoma, in the heart of the
Osage Nation. Blacksmiths at the Florer Trading Post made this style specifically for trade
with the local tribes, who made the hafts and ornamentation themselves. It features a
hand-forged iron head with thin, 7 3/4″ long by 4 1/4″ wide blade, and includes a 1″
diameter round eye for mounting of the haft. The blade with “weeping heart” cutout,
sometimes known as the fifth wound of Christ. Many Midwest tribes were Christian,
converted by Jesuit “black robe” priests. The head is mounted on a hardwood haft, with
brass shank tacks, trade cloth, and buckskin fringe drop, all supplied by the local tribe
which obtained the head. These early triangular-bladed axes were documented and
sketched by Lewis & Clark on their 1804-1806 expedition while wintering at a Mandon
village. This example was formerly in the Robert Wheeler Collection, of Baltimore, and
bears his small white collection number. Now in the Tom Richards Collection. It is
featured in Lar Hothems “Ornamental Indian Artifacts” on page 389, and also in “Who’s
Who in Indian Artifacts”, No. 8, page 181. Overall length 26″, with its original haft.
Beautiful original example of a Dunlop & Florer Missouri War Axe attributed to the
Sauk-Fox tribe. A similar axe from the Wheeler Collection is pictured in “The American
Arms Collector”, 1957, Vol 1, page 130. These early Missouri War Axes often bring
$20,000 and more at auction and from dealers.