Lot 111

Mississippian Stone Gorgets, Group of Four - Fish, Crescent, Celt, & Oval

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Lot 111
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Mississippian Stone Gorgets, Group of Four - Fish, Crescent, Celt, & Oval
Mississippian Stone Gorgets, Group of Four - Fish, Crescent, Celt, & Oval
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Mississippian Stone Gorgets, Group of Four - Fish, Crescent, Celt, & Oval

Estimate: $600 - $900

Starting Bid: $300

(0 Bids)
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, North America, Mississippian culture, ca. 800–1500 CE. A quartet of stone gorgets gathered from the woodlands and river valleys of the American Southeast, each ground and drilled by Mississippian hands into a distinct silhouette. The largest takes the elongated form of a celt or axe head, its tan sandstone surface softened by abrasion and pierced with two suspension perforations along the central axis. Beside it lies a crescent-shaped example in mottled gray slate, the sweeping curve relieved by four bored holes that would have admitted a sinew or hide cord. A smaller piscine effigy, carved in dark vesicular stone, gives the group its most charismatic figure: a stylized fish with a forked tail and paired dorsal perforations standing in for an eye and a stringing point. The fourth, an ovoid plaque of fine-grained stone, is the most economical in conception, twin holes set near one edge for wear against the chest.

Gorgets of this kind were worn as pectoral ornaments suspended at the throat or breast, signaling rank, clan affiliation, or ritual office within the chiefdoms that flourished from the Late Woodland into the contact era. Zoomorphic examples, particularly the fish, likely carried cosmological weight, referencing the Beneath World of Mississippian belief, where aquatic creatures mediated between the living and supernatural realms. The celt and crescent forms echo prestige tools and lunar symbolism alike, while the plain ovoid speaks to the simpler, more widespread tradition of personal adornment that ran in parallel with the elite iconographic program. Size of largest (celt): 5.5" L x 2" W (14.0 cm L x 5.1 cm W).

Provenance: ex-private Denver, Colorado, USA collection

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Item # 202300

  • Condition: Fair. Second largest has been repaired with flaking and chipping along visible break line. All have some weathering and surface wear commensurate with age. A few small chips to fish. Nice forms with scattered earthen deposits. Three wearable as pendants; crescent-shaped gorget not recommended for wear due to repair.

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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