Chief Joseph War Shirt Brings $877,500 at Auction
- July 23, 2012 22:37
A Chief Joseph war shirt fetched $877,500 at the 317-lot Coeur d'Alene Art Auction in Reno.
Considered to be one of the most important American Indian artifacts ever to come on the market, the piece fell on the low end of its $800,000 to $1.2 million estimate.
Legendary Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce tribe wore the shirt in a photograph and for a portrait by Cyrenius Hall in 1878. The painting, used for a U.S. postage stamp, hangs in the Smithsonian.
The July 21 sale of Western and American art brought a preliminary total of $17.3 million.
Top-sellers included the painting "Scout's Report," by Howard Terpning, hammered down for $994,500, and a price of $965,250 for "Cowboys Roping the Bear" by Frank Tenney Johnson.
Read more at Las Vegas Review Journal
