SANTA FE—In August, anyone with an interest in American Indian art gathers in Santa Fe, the center of the market, to see what’s available. Among the primary attractions are two antiques shows — the Historic Indian & World Tribal Arts Show (August 14–17) and the Whitehawk Antique Indian Art Show (August 18–20) — which are both chockablock with turquoise jewelry, beadwork, baskets, pottery, rugs, textiles, and clothing at all price levels. While collecting American Indian art has traditionally been a strictly American pastime, dealers report rising interest among Europeans, many of whom have started to come to Santa Fe for the shows. They say the French, drawn to anything surrealistic, gravitate toward Northwest Coast and Eskimo art and Kachina dolls, while Germans and Austrians prefer the more historical items, such as Plains material from the Sioux, Cheyenne, Crow, Blackfoot, and Pawnee tribes. For what it’s worth, the French tastes correspond with the current vogue.

The Historic Indian show, now in its seventh year, relocated this year from the tennis center on the College of Santa Fe campus to the site of a former Albertsons supermarket at the De Vargas Mall. The fair includes various types of ethnographic art, but is strongest in historic Indian material, in particular from the Southwest. At the opening reception on the night of August 14, the evening’s sponsor, the American Postal Collection, was offering the first 18 prints derived from the New Deal post office murals created by American Indian artists Acee Blue Eagle (Creek/Pawnee) and Stephen Mopope (Kiowa), priced between $1,500 and $2,000 each.

Ilene Johnson, owner of Mystic Warriors in Evergreen, Colorado, which specializes in antique Plains Indian material, raved about the collectors on hand, who she said travel far and wide to attend and are usually well informed. The star of her booth was a Plains Indian beaded horse mask with American flags priced at $45,000.

Dealer Brant Mackley, from Hummelstown, Pennsylvania, had one of the largest and most spectacular booths. Among his best pieces were a Plains Indian war shirt (c. 1880), priced at $115,000; a Sioux doctor’s bag (c. 1890–1910) that was replete with a horse, steer, and several American flags and was designed to appeal to non-native buyers, offered for $26,500; and 19th-century Plateau saddlebags with images of hands, valued at $26,500. Mackley reported selling several pieces on the opening night, including a Northwest Coast carved settee made in a commercial furniture shop (c. 1900–20), which carried an asking price of $28,500. Mackley, one of 12 dealers to do both shows, said at the Whitehawk opening night, on August 18, that the saddlebags were “just about sold.”

Rare Southwestern Historic Pottery of Pinos Altos, New Mexico, showed eleven Mimbres pots (c. 1100–80) from a private collection; the star of the group, offered for $75,000, depicts a beekeeper. Mimbres pots usually have a hole in the bottom, but the hole’s meaning is mysterious. Some say the family of the artist would make it when he died; others believe that the family of the owner made it. In any case, the pot was buried with its maker or owner, so that the soul could escape. The beekeeper pot had been restored and the hole filled in.

Mike Kokin, owner of Santa Fe’s Sherwoods Spirit of America, the largest American Indian art gallery in the country, reported selling a Crow war shirt for $330,000 just before the Historic fair opened. “We were concerned because of the economy, but we found no hesitation for great things,” he said. He added that the gallery, which had booths at both fairs, sells to “both ethnographic and visual collectors. The latter buy later material and choose things that look good on the wall. People who collect historical works rarely want anything else.” Looking good on the wall of his booth at the Historic show were two Apache puberty dresses, each priced at $55,000, and a Sioux porcupine-quill embroidered war shirt trimmed with ermine tails and otter skin (c. 1880), priced at $95,000. At the opening, he sold a pair of Sioux “possible” bags — so called because you can put everything possible in them — for $15,000.

The Whitehawk Antique Indian Art Show, now in its 30th year, is a beloved Santa Fe institution. Although it has a more limited purview than the Historic, showing only pre-1950 American Indian art, with 114 exhibitors it is more than double the Historic’s size (That fair claimed to have 50 dealers, but that number was disputed, with some saying the figure was in the 30s). The Whitehawk is also said to attract a higher ratio of private collectors to dealers and to be the preferred fair for Indian art purists, as opposed to dabblers in all things ethnographic. As a result, several dealers in the field have booths only there. Among them is Taylor A. (“Tad”) Dale, owner of TAD Tribal Art in Santa Fe, who brought a variety of unusual material, including a Ute beaded bag (c. 1880) from a collection in Perth, Scotland, priced at $16,000, and an Eskimo maskette from 1900–21, on offer for $6,500. Another Santa Fe gallery, GrimmerRoche (owned by H. Malcolm Grimmer and David Roche), showed Plains Indian work, including a stunning Nez Perce war shirt priced at $275,000. “We do this show because of tradition,” said Roche, “and because this is the center of the market.”

Not all of the action takes place at the fairs. Non-exhibiting dealers come from all over to trade with each other as well as to sell to clients in town for the fairs. Toronto dealer William Jamieson reported selling an historic war club that the famed Shawnee Chief Tecumseh (1768–1813) gave to Major-General Sir Isaac Brock, his ally in the War of 1812. The wooden club — in the shape of a snake eating an egg — was handed down through the Brock family. Jamieson sold it to Gary Hendershott, a dealer in historical weapons who splits his time between Little Rock and Santa Fe, for $200,000.   

Santa Fe’s focus on American Indian art does not end with the fairs. Next weekend some 100,000 visitors will attend Indian Market, a contemporary art event centered on the Santa Fe Plaza, where around 1,200 artists from 100 tribes will show their work. There is little crossover between the contemporary and historic Indian markets, so the city will brace itself for a totally new group of visitors.