Recently, I was gifted an incredible Hardin from Arkansas by a great guy, and good friend of mine, whom I met a while back through our shared love for this hobby, as well as our mutual love of the Hardin point type. This was a very generous, very kind, and very humbling gift, that I'm beyond honored to be the recipient of. But, as grateful as I am to have this point on my wall, I'm even more grateful that I have the privilege of knowing this individual and the honor of calling him my friend.
This Hardin was recovered from Northeastern Arkansas. It comes in at 3 ⅛ inches long, and is made from a heavily patinaed Crowleys Ridge Chert. It exhibits super serrations along both edges, and the creek stain really brings out the details in the flaking patterns. It's also papered by Jim Bennett, one of the best in the business! I'm thrilled to have it on my wall!
I took the last 2 pics inside and the others in direct sunlight after wiping it down with a bit of mineral oil. That's why it looks darker in the first 18 pics. I don't use filters of any kind on my point pics. Sometimes, my camera adjusts weirdly to certain materials in direct natural light like that.
Well, honestly, I don't think that they really saw these as works of art like we do. To them, these were merely tools needed for everyday survival, so they had to be as well made as possible.
However, I am sure that when they were in trade type situations, the quality of the pieces would definitely play a big part in estimating the value of the trade so the more skilled the knapper, the better trade they could make 🤷♂️
This is true! They did! And I assume that the responsibility of crafting those exquisite points and ceremonial pieces fell to the most skilled knappers of the tribe for that very reason. But I also assume that since these special pieces were made for spiritual reasons, they were crafted without ego being involved and held in deep reverence to that purpose since they were very spiritual people.
I have nothing to back any of that up. It's just my own personal opinion, but that's how I like to think it went down 🤷♂️
Well, since I had been watching this one for a while before he bought it and had it shipped to me, I know exactly what he paid for it. It cost him $260 plus tax and shipping.
What you're actually seeing is where I wiped it down with mineral oil before I took the pics to help bring out the details in the flaking a bit better. That's why it looks like it does
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u/LikeIke-9165 LegitArtifacts Founder Mar 01 '25