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COLLECTOR'S

CABINETS
EASTERN UNITED STATES
PAGE 2 OF 3 PAGES
 COPYRIGHT APRIL 30, 2005 PETER A. BOSTROM

 CLICK ON PICTURE FOR LARGER IMAGE
CLYDE MATTOX (deceased)
MISSOURI COLLECTOR

    Clyde Mattox was known for his axe collection and his museum in Sullivan, Missouri. The picture above shows Clyde standing to the left of Wayne Richardson, who was another collector from Granite City, Illinois. The collection was sold many years ago.

    Some collectors never buy an artifact. Everything they have are personal finds. These people are often times the ones who record the locations of their finds. These types of private collections offer the most to science. Cities are constantly expanding outward and more and more rural areas are being developed. Important archaeological sites would be completely unknown if it weren't for the information available in some of these personally found surface collections.

J.C. Grindell collection of baskets.
BASKETS IN THE RAFTERS
J.C. Grindell cabinet full of artifacts.
PHOTO CREDIT BILL FECHT
J.C. GRINDELL (deceased)
MISSOURI COLLECTOR

    J.C. Grindell was a collector of Stone Age artifacts who lived in St. Louis, Missouri. He past away quite a number of years ago and his collection of thousands of artifacts has long since been dispersed. He kept his collection in an old log cabin in back of his house. The top picture above shows some of his baskets setting in the rafters. The lower picture shows some of his large Mississippian spades from Illinois and Missouri. Several discoidals can also be seen in this picture.

    Most of the ceramic vessels in these collections would have been dug from Mississippian cemeteries. These types of items have presented the most controversy because they are more-often-than-not associated with human remains. In recent years, new federal and state laws now forbid or highly restrict most excavations of human remains.

Harry McPherson collection----shelves of Mississippian pots.
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HARRY McPHERSON (deceased)
 ARKANSAS COLLECTION

   The Mississippian ceramic pots in this picture once belonged to Harry McPherson. Mr. McPherson, born in 1891, has a long list of accomplishments. In his early years he taught in elementary school and edited & published a newspaper. Later he joined the staff of the Ohio State Museum in 1927 as business agent and performed other duties such as publication and editing. His special area of collecting was Mississippian ceramic vessels and by 1956 he had restored 4,500 of them. His collection has been dispersed to several museum and private collections. He retired to Fayetteville, Arkansas.

    Many of the "old time" collectors were never presented with the controversies of collecting ancient artifacts as the collectors of today. There were fewer people then and the issues didn't seem to be as important as they are in today's fast paced society. Today there is a much larger market for antiquities and in fact there doesn't seem to be enough to supply the demand. Population growth and urban expansion are probably two of the main factors impacting collecting issues.

Ed Meiners cabinet of prehistoric artifacts.
ED MEINERS (deceased)
ILLINOIS COLLECTOR

    Ed Meiners was a collector who lived in southern Illinois not far from St. Louis. He past away a few years ago and his collection has been dispersed. The above picture shows his one large cabinet full of the many different prehistoric artifacts from the Illinois region that his collected throughout his life. The bottom shelf contains several different types of knife and projectile points. The second shelf holds a number of points and a row of large discoidals. The top shelf has several Mississippian ceramic vessels. Most of them are human and animal effigy pots. Notice the engraved Hopewell pot just right of center.

    Most of the "old time" collectors, were confronted with a large counterfeit market of artifacts that began mainly with ground stone copies of bannerstones, discoidals, birdstones and pipes. Early flaked stone artifacts began to be produced in the late 1800's. They were made from old points that were rechipped along the edges into fanciful shapes. In recent years, ever increasing numbers of skilled flintknappers have flooded the market with very fine copies of old artifacts. Some of them have very realistic looking patina. Fine copies of late Stone Age ceramic vessels are also a more recent phenomenon.

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"REFERENCES"

1960  Wachtel, H. C., "Who's Who In Indian Relics No. 1," pp. 68-69.
1968  Wachtel, H. C., "Who's Who In Indian Relics No. 2," pp. 194-196, pp. 232-233.
1972  Parks, Cameron & Thompson, Ben W., "Who's Who In Indian Relics No. 3," p. 8.
1984 Thompson, Ben W., "Who's Who In Indian Relics No. 6," p.44.
1996  Hoving, Thomas, "False Impressions," p. 24.
1999  Braden, Maria, "Trafficking In Treasures," "American Archaeology," Vol. 3 No. 4. p.19.
Personal communications with Floyd Ritter.

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