The late 19th Century / early 20th Century Native American Indian Headdress
A Native American Indian headdress comes up at Fonsie Mealy’s Chatsworth Summer Fine Art sale in Castlecomer on June 28-29. Complete with plaited human hair it dates to the late 19th or early 20th century. The headdress has eagle feather quills and plumes and coloured, threaded supports over a decorative bead work front.
There should be considerable excitement around this lot. In February of 2015 a Native American outfit estimated at 4,000-6,000 sold for a hammer price of 320,000 at Fonsie Mealy. A number of bidders on the phone and the internet competed for the lot from across the Atlantic.
The headdress coming up later this month has an excellent provenance. It is from the Laidlaw family of Castleknock in Dublin. Elizabeth Clarke of Coats and Clarke, a Scottish cotton spool thread firm with branches in the US married into the Laidlaw family and it has come down by direct descent. It is estimated at 2,000-3,000.
(See post on antiquesandartireland.com for February 25, 2015)