Featured Native American Beaded Coin Purse

#4 from same auction...

This was described as a "1900's Navajo Beaded Coin Purse"

 

Bingo! At least they got this one sort of right. It is an Iroquois bag, made as a tourist souvenir - sometimes referred to as a "whimsy". Probably late 19th - early 20th century.

For comparison -
https://www.clasesdegym.com/detail/...2-Sided-Beaded-Bag-Pouch_yq0a67f6ecbbc87.html

 

again........ yup !!!

 

woohoo!! Thanks, @2manybooks

 

But it is actually against the law to misrepresent the tribal affiliation, also, under the Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990. And the Navajo are totally unrelated to the Iroquois tribe!

 

@Taupou - do you know of any instances where this law has actually been applied? There are so many examples of misidentified items on ebay, mostly, I imagine, because of optimistic ignorance.

 

I've seen Auctioneers take down items , once informed of their true nature...

 

I am certainly not defending this auction or going to bad mouth them. That being said, 99% of auctions do not know 99% of what they are selling. For many, that's the attraction to purchase at auction.

I've been to many auctions where a tray of gold necklaces are being sold. It is clearly obvious that the chains/necklaces are real gold. The auctioneer would "choice out" from the tray and simply call it jewelry. This slight of hand (or voice) absolves them of liability because at the start they read their disclaimers about everything being "AS IS WHERE IS" and you, the buyer are to do your own due diligence.

 

I have a partial answer, or two answers. If you are asking about whether the law has ever been applied to a case where a genuine native item was represented as being by a different tribe: like a Navajo item represented as Hopi, I don't know that answer.
But as far as whether the law has ever been applied to a non-native or fake item represented as a genuine native item: yes many times.
I'd have to check my archives for exact dates - but three examples:
1) Thousands of bone and ivory carvings were confiscated from a dealer, who was prosecuted; he had an ongoing business where he obtained genuine marine ivory illegally, shipped it to Indonesia and had it carved into fake native items, then shipped them back to Alaska to be sold as genuine. Also confiscated were thousands of bone carvings, which were not otherwise illegal; and those were auctioned off...you'll still see those bone carvings being sold on ebay today - often misrepresented as native.
2) The Ivory Jack prosecution: Ivory Jack's had conspired to have fake native items carved, then attached fake hang tags identifying them as the work of non-existent native carvers.
3) The FBI prosecutions - I forget the year - but I had a contact at that time with the Indian Arts and Crafts board - and after some lengthy investigations, they, via the FBI, filed charges against hundreds of people who had knowingly misrepresented fakes when selling them as genuine Native items.

 

I have a collection of beaded bags and other beaded items. Most of them are Iroquois. Pincushions, scissors holders, picture frames, etc. were made with the Woodland typical floral pattern. Western tribes used mostly geometric shapes. That's a very, very simplistic explanation, but when you see them next to each other it's easier to understand.

 

Thank you for this information. I can see why more attention would be paid to high volume fraud like these examples.

I guess I was just curious about instances with the average ebay or mall seller misrepresenting things out of ignorance.

 

who would bother chasing such a small fish?

 

In the case of eBay, the number of misidentified items far outnumbers the people at the Indian Arts and Crafts Board in charge of prosecuting or even investigating offenses. It just isn't possible, when one considers the non-eBay items misidentified across the United States. It is a start, and an important piece of legislation to the tribal community, even if the rest of the public is unaware of it.

But it is the law, nevertheless. I've found that the best approach is education, as well as enforcement. Tribal arts are a very specialized area, and one in which the general public usually has little background You might be surprised at the number of people who think of "Indians" as one culture, usually wearing a war bonnet, or at least feathers in their hair, and riding horses!

I think that sellers generally just do not know they are actually committing a federal offense, and are glad to make corrections, when needed. Truthfulness is still important to most, whether or not it's enforced. And cases are brought to court all the time, so there is more enforcement than most realize, even if it doesn't catch every offense.

Plus there is part of the law, which says that offenses can be reported by anyone, and the forms are available on line, so it is possible that enforcement will increase, especially now that Deb Haaland, from Laguna Pueblo, is now Secretary of the Interior!

 

I've found that more sellers used to be irate , asking if I'm the Indian Police & telling me to mind my own business..... in terms that were not as polite !