Lot 120

Mississippian Carved Stone Effigy Platform Pipe

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Lot 120
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Mississippian Carved Stone Effigy Platform Pipe
Mississippian Carved Stone Effigy Platform Pipe
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Mississippian Carved Stone Effigy Platform Pipe

Estimate: $400 - $600
by Artemis Fine Arts
June 25, 2026 9:00 AM MDT (In Progress)
Live Auction
686 S. Taylor Avenue
Suite 108
Louisville, CO, US 80027

Native American, Mississippian culture, Arkansas, ca. 1000–1500 CE. A carved stone effigy pipe of horizontal platform form, its dark gray body worked into the recumbent silhouette of a creature whose modest snout, hunched shoulder, and tapered tail emerge from the unembellished mass. The bowl opens between two raised lobes near the midpoint of the back, the bore drilled cleanly through the dorsal ridge, while the stem channel runs the length of the body to exit at the rear. Surfaces are smoothed by patient abrasion and bear the soft pitted patina of long burial, the matte finish broken only where weathering has lifted a fine granular skin.

Effigy pipes of this kind belong to a long tradition of zoomorphic smoking implements produced across the lower Mississippi and Arkansas River valleys during the Mississippian period, when tobacco use carried diplomatic, curative, and ceremonial weight. The animal subjects, often bird, frog, beaver, or otter, served as spirit intermediaries, the smoker drawing breath through the body of the creature itself. The reductive carving here, more suggestive than literal, places this example within the vernacular tradition of utilitarian effigy pipes rather than the elite, fully modeled stone sculptures of the great mound centers.

Accompanied by a Daniel Wolf collection tag (DW.2481), acquired September 18, 2006. Size: 6.6" W x 2" H x 1.3" D (16.8 cm W x 5.1 cm H x 3.3 cm D).

Provenance: private Colorado, USA Collection; ex-private Denver, Colorado, USA collection; ex-private Flushing, New York and Ridgeway, Colorado, USA collection, acquired September 2006 via private seller

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Item # 203149

  • Condition: Excellent. Some minor nicks and abrasions, but, otherwise, intact and excellent.

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Bid Increments
From: To: Increments:
$0 $299 $25
$300 $999 $50
$1,000 $1,999 $100
$2,000 $4,999 $250
$5,000 $9,999 $500
$10,000 $19,999 $1,000
$20,000 $49,999 $2,500
$50,000 $99,999 $5,000
$100,000 $199,999 $10,000
$200,000 + $20,000