Help needed in Identifying this Hatchet?

T

TiminthePNW

Joined
Mar 20, 2018
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3
Picked this up at an estate sale of a collector of Early Americana and Civil War memorabilia.....
Not exactly sure what this is.....any help would be appreciated...
The head appears to be copper
IMG_8624.jpg
IMG_8619.jpg
 
My guess is that it's a ceremonial tomahawk from a fraternal organization, based on these old auction listing below:

1900s-improved-order-of-the-red-men-tomahawk_1_82677ea7cb8e8e412e7d1a03461609c1.jpg

"Improved Order Of The Red Men regalia Tomahawk. These Tomahawks w part of the regalia worn by the Red Men for ceremonial affairs. I believe this one dates to the early 1900's. The tomahawk appears to be made of brass that has a silver or chrome plating. It has the American eagle inset with TOTE (Totem Of The Eagle) across it's center. The head measures approx 5 inches across and approx 2 1/2 inches tall across the blade. The wood handle measures approx 12 inches tall. The Improved Order Of The Red Men is the oldest Fraternal Organization in the U.S. and some of its former members included: George Washington, Samuel Adams, Thomas Jefferson, John Hancock, Paul Revere, FDR, Theodore Roosevelt, Richard Nixon and many more..."
from https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/1900s-improved-order-of-the-red-men-tomahawk


1880-american-lodge-axe-fraternal-group-nr_1_70e80544f90fb99f469fd8438ce59b44.jpg

"From an old collection of edged-weapons in Philadelphia -- a beautifully-carved U.S. fraternal Lodge Axe. It measures 13" long x 5" head w/ 3" bit. We find no maker's mark. We will ship this item worldwide. Documentation / Reference Works
Two similar axes are shown on p.228 of "Indian Tomahawks & Frontiersman Belt Axes" by Daniel Hartzler and James A. Knowles. One is captioned " Brass, brotherhood society piece" -- and the other "Horstmann, fraternal, brass axe." (See photo.) Both of these are brass and inscribed with the acronym "TOTE." Wm. H. Horstmann & Co. is listed on p.248 of the same book as "Philadelphia, PA 1828-1860 Pipe tomahawks." This Company later made fraternal hatchets and axes.
While this piece is unsigned, it could well be by Horstmann -- because is comes from Philadelphia, and the eagles appear nearly identical.
Ours is steel -- embellished with an artistic American Eagle. It has a curved maple haft secured in front by a wooden shim. (Again, see photo.) The poll has a wooden insert pierced with several pin-sized holes. (See photo.) The head shows moderate aging and wear -- as does the haft..."
from https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/1880-american-lodge-axe-fraternal-group-nr
 
Steve Tall said:
My guess is that it's a ceremonial tomahawk from a fraternal organization, based on these old auction listing below:

1900s-improved-order-of-the-red-men-tomahawk_1_82677ea7cb8e8e412e7d1a03461609c1.jpg

"Improved Order Of The Red Men regalia Tomahawk. These Tomahawks w part of the regalia worn by the Red Men for ceremonial affairs. I believe this one dates to the early 1900's. The tomahawk appears to be made of brass that has a silver or chrome plating. It has the American eagle inset with TOTE (Totem Of The Eagle) across it's center. The head measures approx 5 inches across and approx 2 1/2 inches tall across the blade. The wood handle measures approx 12 inches tall. The Improved Order Of The Red Men is the oldest Fraternal Organization in the U.S. and some of its former members included: George Washington, Samuel Adams, Thomas Jefferson, John Hancock, Paul Revere, FDR, Theodore Roosevelt, Richard Nixon and many more..."
from https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/1900s-improved-order-of-the-red-men-tomahawk


1880-american-lodge-axe-fraternal-group-nr_1_70e80544f90fb99f469fd8438ce59b44.jpg

"From an old collection of edged-weapons in Philadelphia -- a beautifully-carved U.S. fraternal Lodge Axe. It measures 13" long x 5" head w/ 3" bit. We find no maker's mark. We will ship this item worldwide. Documentation / Reference Works
Two similar axes are shown on p.228 of "Indian Tomahawks & Frontiersman Belt Axes" by Daniel Hartzler and James A. Knowles. One is captioned " Brass, brotherhood society piece" -- and the other "Horstmann, fraternal, brass axe." (See photo.) Both of these are brass and inscribed with the acronym "TOTE." Wm. H. Horstmann & Co. is listed on p.248 of the same book as "Philadelphia, PA 1828-1860 Pipe tomahawks." This Company later made fraternal hatchets and axes.
While this piece is unsigned, it could well be by Horstmann -- because is comes from Philadelphia, and the eagles appear nearly identical.
Ours is steel -- embellished with an artistic American Eagle. It has a curved maple haft secured in front by a wooden shim. (Again, see photo.) The poll has a wooden insert pierced with several pin-sized holes. (See photo.) The head shows moderate aging and wear -- as does the haft..."
from https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/1880-american-lodge-axe-fraternal-group-nr
Click to expand...
Thanks.......
It very will may be......I looked more closely at mine and the top of the shield on the eagles chest has the letters.... TOTR (Totem of the Redmen?)
I have reached out to their organization to see if they might be able to shed light on this piece
Thank you for taking the time to respond and your information was very helpful
Tim
 
Steve Tall said:
My guess is that it's a ceremonial tomahawk from a fraternal organization, based on these old auction listing below:

1900s-improved-order-of-the-red-men-tomahawk_1_82677ea7cb8e8e412e7d1a03461609c1.jpg

"Improved Order Of The Red Men regalia Tomahawk. These Tomahawks w part of the regalia worn by the Red Men for ceremonial affairs. I believe this one dates to the early 1900's. The tomahawk appears to be made of brass that has a silver or chrome plating. It has the American eagle inset with TOTE (Totem Of The Eagle) across it's center. The head measures approx 5 inches across and approx 2 1/2 inches tall across the blade. The wood handle measures approx 12 inches tall. The Improved Order Of The Red Men is the oldest Fraternal Organization in the U.S. and some of its former members included: George Washington, Samuel Adams, Thomas Jefferson, John Hancock, Paul Revere, FDR, Theodore Roosevelt, Richard Nixon and many more..."
from https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/1900s-improved-order-of-the-red-men-tomahawk


1880-american-lodge-axe-fraternal-group-nr_1_70e80544f90fb99f469fd8438ce59b44.jpg

"From an old collection of edged-weapons in Philadelphia -- a beautifully-carved U.S. fraternal Lodge Axe. It measures 13" long x 5" head w/ 3" bit. We find no maker's mark. We will ship this item worldwide. Documentation / Reference Works
Two similar axes are shown on p.228 of "Indian Tomahawks & Frontiersman Belt Axes" by Daniel Hartzler and James A. Knowles. One is captioned " Brass, brotherhood society piece" -- and the other "Horstmann, fraternal, brass axe." (See photo.) Both of these are brass and inscribed with the acronym "TOTE." Wm. H. Horstmann & Co. is listed on p.248 of the same book as "Philadelphia, PA 1828-1860 Pipe tomahawks." This Company later made fraternal hatchets and axes.
While this piece is unsigned, it could well be by Horstmann -- because is comes from Philadelphia, and the eagles appear nearly identical.
Ours is steel -- embellished with an artistic American Eagle. It has a curved maple haft secured in front by a wooden shim. (Again, see photo.) The poll has a wooden insert pierced with several pin-sized holes. (See photo.) The head shows moderate aging and wear -- as does the haft..."
from https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/1880-american-lodge-axe-fraternal-group-nr
Click to expand...
Thanks.......
This helps.......I am still researching this.....appears to be quite a rare an unique item
Thank you for taking the time to respond and your information was very helpful
Tim
 
My "secret" is to come up with some good-enough search terms, usually by trial and error, that lead me to some search results that give the next search terms to use to "home in" on the relevant information.

For example, that tomahawk has an prominent eagle on the head, and looks like it's made of brass. My first search on Google was for:
brass tomahawk eagle
...and then I went to the images page to quickly look over the results. I didn't see anything promising, so I then tried a search for:
bronze tomahawk eagle
...and there was an image result that looked similar, which mentioned the "Improved Order of Red Men", so my next search was for:
"Improved Order of Red Men" tomahawk
...which led me to one of the images I posted from Worthpoint (along with the description).
Doing the same search ("Improved Order of Red Men" tomahawk) on the Worthpoint site led me to the other example I posted.
And that's it!
 
Last edited:
Steve Tall said:
My "secret" is to come up with some good-enough search terms, usually by trial and error, that lead me to some search results that give the next search terms to use to "home in" on the relevant information.

For example, that tomahawk has an prominent eagle on the head, and looks like it's made of brass. My first search on Google was for:
brass tomahawk eagle
...and then I went to the images page to quickly look over the results. I didn't see anything promising, so I then tried a search for:
bronze tomahawk eagle
...and there was an image result that looked similar, which mentioned the "Improved Order of Red Men", so my next search was for:
"Improved Order of Red Men" tomahawk
...which led me to one of the images I posted from Worthpoint (along with the description).
Doing the same search ("Improved Order of Red Men" tomahawk) on the Worthpoint site led me to the other example I posted.
And that's it!
Click to expand...
Nevertheless you have intuition, dedication and much more patience than the majority of us.
 
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