I have an original bleeding heart pipe tomahawk that was given to me in 1981 by my Grandfather. His grandmother (grandma TallChief) had given it to him shortly before her death in 1960, she was 90 years old. It originally belonged to her father Chief Peter Bigheart, (1838-1915) Chief of the Osage tribe. He was elected principal Chief of the Osages in 1908, before that, he was Chief of the William Penn Band of the Osage Tribe. In 1886 Grandma traveled with him and his relative Chief James Bigheart to Washington. Both men spoke English and were on the council that worked out the provisions of the Osage Allotment Act. When my mother was little she said grandma TallChief used to tell her stories about the tomahawk being carried during the trail of tears ordeal when the Osages were moved from Kansas and Missouri into northern Oklahoma.
As far as the weeping or bleeding heart in the blade, I had always heard over the years that it was a trademark used by a company in New England during the 17 and 1800's. These tomahawks were traded to the Osage and other tribes by French fur traders. These Tomahawks were purely ceremonial and were never sharpened. On this hawk you can see the file marks that were created by heating up a file and burning the surface of the handle. I've have never done anything to the hawk, she looks the same as the day it was given to me 30 years ago when I was 7 years old.
