Click to enlarge	A miniature Hopewell curved base monitor pipe. This was a surface find by William Eckmans in Union County, Kentucky in the 1960’s. Mr. Eckmans had a five hundred acre farm, over his lifetime found thousands of artifacts. This pipe was one of his best finds. It is made from a green Illinois pipestone that is highly polished. There are several known examples that are quite large in size, filling the entire hand. One can conjecture that this pipe was a “personal” version of those larger pipes, or that it served as a model or even a childs toy. Regardless of its use, it is an exceptional prehistoric work of art, crafted by an artisan. What is fascinating is that prehistoric pipe styles, once created by ancient man, were duplicated over and over in nearly exact replications of form. This brings one to believe that these were created in workshops, whose total function was to fashion these pipes for the elite. Above is Dennis holding the pipe. He acquired it from the family of the finder. It measures 3¼ inches in length. Collection of Dennis Bushey, Cullman, Alabama
Click to enlarge	The mace-like artifact shown above in a frontal and profile view, was found with three Middle Archaic points and a “duck bill” object in Pontotoc County, Mississippi in the late 1970’s. It is made from claystone, and measures 6 3/8 inches in height. The center of the mace has an oval area on one side, possibly utilized to hold paint or a stone or shell insert. At the top are five tick or tally marks, and there appears to be an attachment handle at the bottom. These Benton phase objects (4200-2800 B.C.) are usually found with a cache of points, and are very rare. Most are crudely fashioned, but highly polished and worked. This one is highly refined in form, and greatly resembles the Mississippian mace that would not appear until more than 3000 years later in time.
Click to enlarge	This miniature effigy or eccentric was found in Madison County, Alabama in 1992. It is 2.125 inches long by 1.25 inches wide. The rock is a green colored chert. It resembles an animal in form, possibly a flying squirrel or a beaver, as you can clearly see the tail, four legs and two ears. It is similar to a large flint effigy shown in the CSAJ Vol. 55 No. 3 page 157.
Click to enlarge	A highly polished Bottle style bannerstone found by a farmer in Bartow County, Georgia. The ancient maker fashioned it from Petoskey stone, a fossilized coral. Very few ancient objects have been discovered utilizing this stone.
Click to enlarge	This very thin, well-made Stanfield from Burke County, Georgia, came to us at our Cleveland, Georgia show in the hands of a new collector. It came wrapped in just a paper towel. One of our veteran collectors attending the show,Tom Foreman, gave the novice collector one of his personal cases to help protect this treasure. That kind gesture did more for our hobby that the best advertisement will ever do.