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MACK TUSSINGER'S OKLAHOMA ECCENTRICS
CIRCA 1920's -- PRESENT
PAGE 1 OF 4 PAGES
COPYRIGHT NOVEMBER 30, 2002 PETER A. BOSTROM
An original frame of Mack Tussinger's Oklahoma eccentrics.
MACK TUSSINGER'S "ECCENTRIC CEREMONIAL FLINTS"
TOM RICHARDSON COLLECTION

   The eccentrics illustrated in this article were borrowed from the collection pictured above. This frame was once on display in the Frontier City Museum in or near Joplin, Missouri sometime in the 1940's or 50's. A picture of it was also published in a small pamphlet of "Album Prints" and sold in the Frontier City Museum.

ABSTRACT:
A Mack Tussinger Oklahoma eccentric.
MACK TUSSINGER'S

OKLAHOMA ECCENTRICS
TOM RICHARDSON COLLECTION

   This article describes and illustrates several of Mack Tussinger's famous eccentrics that began to appear in the late 1920's or early 30's. Mr. Tussinger claimed to have discovered them in either 1921 or 1926 on a site called the Rhoades Mound in Delaware County, Oklahoma. They are now considered by most flintknappers and professional archaeologists to have been recently made and not prehistoric as originally claimed. But some people also believe they were anciently crafted. The controversy has actually turned them into a legend of sorts and that's what makes their history all the more interesting.

   The eccentric's in this article were borrowed from the Tom Richardson collection. They were in a frame of 56 pieces (see picture at top of page) that was originally in the Willard L. Elsing collection. A picture of this famous frame of eccentrics was published in a small pamphlet of "Album Prints" that was sold where they were once on display in the Frontier City Museum in or near Joplin, Missouri.

   "In my humble judgment the preponderance of legal evidence is on the side of the authenticity of the eccentric flints of Delaware County, Oklahoma". ---1948, Claude U. Stone.

A group of Mack Tussinger's Oklahoma eccentrics.
CLICK ON PICTURE FOR LARGE IMAGE

MACK TUSSINGER'S

OKLAHOMA ECCENTRICS
TOM RICHARDSON COLLECTION

   The above statement "In my humble judgment the preponderance of legal evidence is on the side of the authenticity of the eccentric flints of Delaware County, Oklahoma" was made by, Claude Stone, a famous Illinois collector in 1948 in the journal of the "Illinois State Archaeological Society." The Mack Tussinger eccentrics were controversial from the beginning. Some people still believe they were made prehistorically by a late Stone Age culture. But most professional archaeologists and flintknappers consider them to be recently made and not the product of an ancient culture. Actually, both sides have some truth in them. They were apparently "rechipped" from old bifaces, projectile points and knives. "Rechipped" or "rechips" are terms used by some collectors and flintknappers for a category of prehistoric artifacts that have been recently altered in modern times by pressure flaking to make them more symmetrical. The main reason for doing it is to make them more pleasing to look at and more valuable the next time they are sold.

A very large Mack Tussinger Oklahoma eccentric.
CLICK ON PICTURE FOR LARGE IMAGE
A MACK TUSSINGER OKLAHOMA ECCENTRIC
TOM RICHARDSON COLLECTION

   This eccentric is one of the longest in this collection and looks like it was made from a large knife. It measures 7 3/16 inches (18.3 cm) long.

    Mack Tussinger sold Stone Age artifacts most of his life. He began selling them in his grade school years to a doctor when "arrowheads which were good brought 10 cents apiece." and he would "hitch the nag to the hack and drive the 7 miles to Seneca to take some choice pieces to add to the doctor's growing collection."

A Mack Tussinger Oklahoma eccentric.
CLICK ON PICTURE FOR LARGE TRIPLE IMAGE
A MACK TUSSINGER OKLAHOMA ECCENTRIC
TOM RICHARDSON COLLECTION

   This very elaborate eccentric is made of a gray colored chert of good quality. The overall design seems to include two serrated arrow points attached as "ears" to the base of a highly serrated  point. It measures 2 1/2 inches (6.3 cm) long.

    Mr. Tussinger, a Wyandotte Indian, married Susie Bearskin sometime around 1920 and moved to a small 40 acre farm at Turkey Ford near Wyandotte, Oklahoma. It was while walking the fields near the woods in either 1921 or 1926 that Mack claimed to have made his famous discovery. He reportedly found a "grass covered mound" where he dug into and found "one of the most outstanding treasures of antiquity", the famous ceremonial eccentrics.

CONTINUE ON TO PAGE TWO

"REFERENCES"

1940, "Study of the Oklahoma Eccentric Flints", by H. Holmes Ellis, 7 pages.
1948,  "Journal of the Illinois State Archaeological Society---Eccentric Flints", by Claude U. Stone, pp. 3 & 4.
1948,  "The Masterkey, July, 1948" article by Ruth D. Simpson.
1960,  "Treasures From A Pre-Historic Age---The Eccentrics of Oklahoma", by Irene Heeringa, 15 pages.
19--, "Album Prints", Frontier City Museum, pictures of 5 frames of Mack Tussinger's Oklahoma eccentrics.
1997, "Chips, Vol. 9, #1, Grey Ghosts and Old Timers", by D.C. Waldorf, p. 11.
Personal communications with Dr. Don Wycoff, University of Oklahoma at Norman.
Personal communications with Dr. Robert Bell.

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