Lot 101A

Woodland Period Stone Celt Adze Heads, Group of Four

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Lot 101
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Woodland Period Stone Celt Adze Heads, Group of Four
Woodland Period Stone Celt Adze Heads, Group of Four
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Woodland Period Stone Celt Adze Heads, Group of Four

Estimate: $400 - $600

Starting Bid: $200

(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, Woodland Period, ca. 1000 BCE – 1000 CE. A quartet of ground-stone celts, their bodies shaped from speckled granitic and igneous cobbles into the smooth, tongue-like forms favored across the Eastern Woodlands. Each tapers from a rounded poll to a working bit, the surfaces pecked into outline and then patiently abraded to a satin finish that catches the light along every contour. The mottled grey, green, and tawny stones still carry the glacial character of the rivers and tills that supplied them. Hafted as adze or axe heads, such tools felled trees, hollowed dugout canoes, and dressed timber for dwellings, the indispensable woodworking implements of a forest-dwelling people. Their utilitarian honesty, refined over generations of patient labor, lends them a quiet sculptural presence that belies their humble purpose. Size of largest: 5.3" W x 2.1" H x 1.1" D (13.5 cm W x 5.3 cm H x 2.8 cm D).

The celt, a polished ungrooved axe or adze blade, was among the most widespread tools of the North American Woodland tradition (roughly 1000 BCE to 1000 CE). Manufacture began by selecting a fine-grained, tough cobble of igneous or metamorphic stone, which was then pecked with a hammerstone to rough out the form and ground against an abrasive slab, often with sand and water, until the bit took a durable edge. Lashed into a wooden haft or socketed antler sleeve, celts were essential to forest clearance, canoe building, and house construction, technologies that underpinned the increasingly settled village life of the era.

Provenance: private Colorado, USA collection; largest: ex-private Los Angeles, California, USA collection; ex-major gallery, Beverly Hills, California, USA, primarily acquired between 1985 and 2005

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Item # 200499

  • Condition: Excellent. Some nicks and abrasions, but, otherwise all are 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