This is a great, old wheelbarrow with lots of character. The original label has a price of $2,695, from a company named Valley Furniture and Interiors. I’m told that this was a store in Albuquerque that no longer exists. The wheelbarrow was built by mortise and tenon with very little hardware. Metal reinforcements have been […]
This is an intriguing buffalo stick. Measuring 17″ long and made of wood, it’s a staff with a buffalo head at the top. The head end, as well as the hump, appear to be a small burl due to how the wood grain is wavy and circular. The head has ears and horns made of […]
This is an early wire wrapped pipe tomahawk with provenance. The tribal affiliation is unknown. The consensus on the dating is before the reservation period, perhaps as late as 1865. The head is likely earlier than this, dating to the first half of the 19th century. The haft may be original to the head, but […]
This is a beautiful retablo, but I’m having a hard time placing its origin. The paints appear to be water based and the wood is likely pine. There is a candle burn mark at the base on the left half. All of these points are indicative of New Mexican retablos coming out of the first […]
This is a small and sweet retablo on wood by Jorge Sanchez, a santero from Albuquerque, NM. It shows Our Lady of Sorrows. The back is titled and signed by the maker.
Here’s a beautifully executed retablo on wood by Jose Benito Ortega of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Written on the back: This old Spanish painting was brought from the Old Church in Zia, N.M. Church built in 1683
This is an intriguing assemblage of an old painting of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The painting of her is beautiful and well done. The canvas has likely been cut down to what we see now now. Flowers painted in the corner are cut off by the frame. In the back, we have a very ragged […]
This is a beautiful and intricate sacristy, or nicho or reliquary. The carving is complex and impressive. Glass covers three sides with a door panel on the back. This panel is painted on the interior with red designs on top of a gessoed surface. The red designs are complex and appear like a Renaissance image. […]
The stone used for the pipe bowl is a deep black-red color. The bowl sets on top of a rectangular base. On the underside of the base are four holes going through a spine with four loops. The bowl fits snugly onto the wood (oak?) stem.
The Inuit wood box (likely cedar) is dug out of one piece of wood and has a bear with an elongated neck. Its head has ears, eyes and a mouth. The back end is rounded for his rump. The box has no lid to it, and no evidence of there having been one. I’m told […]
