2017-05-27 Sat

Bonhams will feature a diverse mix of coins and related items at its June 5 Coins and Medals auction in Los Angeles.

From the lot, there are two galvanos depicting Native Americans as sculptured by Edward Warren Sawyer. Sawyer trained with Hermon Atkins MacNeil — designer of the Standing Liberty quarter dollar — at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in the mid-1890s.

Swayer traveled to the American West, where he lived with Indian tribes to gain their confidence. Communicating with the Indians was not as easy as it looked because they were afraid that this would also portray their spirit. Initially, the Indians resisted being photographed; however, Sawyer convinced them to get comfortable. Then came the big change, where Swayer somehow got his model to sit for him.

Lot 264 depicts the Navajo Chief Tja-Yo-Ni and Lot 265 depicts Sunka-Hanska of the Oglala Sioux. Both galvanos measure 70 millimeters in diameter, are set in a wood frame, and each carries an estimate of $3,000 to $5,000.

In his essay “My Work among the Indians” published in the 1913 American Journal of Numismatics, Sawyer wrote of his 1904 trip where he visited Navajo country, and recorded that, although he modelled many heads, Chief Tja-Yo-Ni was among the most important.

He modelled Sunka-Hanska in 1912. Swayer recalls his stay with the Oglala Sioux at the Pine Ridge Reservation. He says “when he arrived, a big council was being held there where Indians were present. Also, he states that he was accompanied by an Indian farmer who knew all the Indians and told him all the celebrated men, among others being old Red Cloud’s son”.

He picked out three or four good types and made all arrangements to have them pose when an agent for a Wild West Show came along and hired all the Indians. It was useless to stay there, so he took the stage and went north to Manderson on the edge of the Bad Lands where he could be out of reach of the Wild West Shows. He stopped with the Indian Trader, who was interested in his work and helped him get three good types, Chief Sota (Smoke), Sunka-Hanska (Long Dog), and Hunpe-Ka (Picket Pin).

Today, Sawyer’s approximately 40 medallic depictions of Native Americans are celebrated, and groups of the artist’s work are held at the Art Institute of Chicago, the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian Institution and the Buffalo Bill Historical Centre in Cody, Wyoming.