New Frontier – Auction
August 24, 2024 at 4PM
Liveauctioneers & Icollector
Event Center at Archer Cheyenne, Wyoming
Scott Tarbell: 913-406-8057 • newfrontiershow@proton.me
www.NewFrontierShow.com

CHEYENNE, WYO. — Collectors of Old West, cowboy and Native American antiques will soon be making the annual pilgrimage to Cheyenne for the best buying and socializing event of the season: the Cheyenne Firearms & Western Collectibles Show & Auction. Conducted at the Laramie County Event Center at Archer, the three-day gathering celebrates an era when America’s wide-open spaces were the domain of Native tribes, cattle ranchers, outlaw gangs and the lawmen who chased them. This year’s event, with dealers presenting their wares on August 23-25, is highlighted by an August 24 onsite auction that also welcomes Internet live bidding through a choice of two platforms.

“This year’s auction includes an outstanding selection of Western relics and memorabilia, silver saddles and tack, Native American artifacts, prison-made horsehair bridles, antique firearms and Railway Express items,” said Scott Tarbell, owner of New Frontier Auctions. “There are some truly exceptional pieces from three estates and lifetime collections, including that of Paul Hamer.”

In addition, the auction is enriched with antiques from a number of other consignors. The selection includes fine and decorative art, tribal textiles, knives and edged weapons; jewelry, vintage advertising and posters; cowboy hats, chaps and boots; and beaded leather clothing, moccasins and accessories. “Collectors gave us some of their most interesting pieces,” said Tarbell. “They know the Cheyenne auction attracts enthusiastic bidders, including those at the very top end of the collecting ladder, so it pays to send us their best.”

Where you find cowboys, you’ll also find saddles, and the auction includes 11 options. Leading the lineup is a Pat Gill fully silver-mounted saddle with a matching bridle and martingale. Profusely carved with a floral motif throughout, the saddle is heavily laden with engraved silver. It has silver-lined perimeters, a bound and rope-edged cantle and gold horsehead swells, horn cap and stirrups; and is topped off with detailed corner plates accented by gold stars. The martingale is covered in 21 artfully detailed and engraved square silver conchos, with a central gold star embellishing the chest plate ($10/14,000).

Horsehair bridles crafted by prison inmates of a century ago are among the most sought after of all antique equine tack. The auction includes examples from Yuma (Ariz.) Territorial Prison and the Montana State Prison in Deer Lodge Valley. One example from Deer Lodge displays a seldom-seen palette of 11 colors, with the highlight color of pink against a white background. It is adorned with tassels, hitched glass rosettes and split-reins that include American flags, and is finished with a three-dimensional bit with cheekpieces designed as a woman’s profile ($5,5/7,500).

Dozens of pairs of spurs will be auctioned, and many are from the most coveted brands, such as Tapia, J.O. Bass, Buerman and G.S. Garcia. A pair of scarce Phillips & Gutierrez (active 1917-18; Cheyenne, Wyo.) silver spurs have classically engraved single inlaid heelbands, over-length silver-inlaid shanks and huge multi-point rowels. They are unmarked but show the highly identifiable style of craftsmanship and step-down button plates unique to the collaboration of Frank Phillips and master engraver Filo Gutierrez, whose career endured for more than 50 years ($3,5/5,500). Within the mix are prison-made spurs from the Colorado State Penitentiary at Canon City and the Washington State Penitentiary at Walla Walla.

The firearms category includes shotguns, flintlock, trade and other rifles; and carbines, with one of the star attractions being a coveted antique Winchester 1876 Royal Canadian Mounted Police carbine. The .45-.75 caliber longarm, one of the few of its type in the Clancher list of known RCMP-issued guns, has the specified Spanish meter sight ($7/11,000). Another highlight is a Colt .45-caliber US Cavalry single action revolver with a “US” frame mark and “RAC” inspector’s mark, referring to Renaldo Carr, who was renowned for his inspection of Colts from the Indian Wars period ($4,5/6,500).

It would be hard to overstate the visual appeal of a Cree Indian beaded pad saddle. The artistry is breathtaking, with boldly colored cut-glass beads, beaded drops and tassels forming a floral motif on which no detail has been spared ($3,5/5,500). Another sensational production is the Nineteenth Century Sioux Indian cradle cover fully beaded to create an intricate geometric pattern in apple green and cobalt blue on white, with red and white hearts ($3/5,000).

“Red” is the keyword in a Germantown weaving, so named because the commercially spun wool yarn used by the Navajo to create such textiles between 1864 and 1910 came from Germantown (Philadelphia), Penn. Measuring 35 by 56 inches, its maze-like pattern incorporates cobalt blue, green and orange against a vivid crimson field. It has a black and white sawtooth border and is finished with colored fringe ($3,5/5,500).

Founded in 1918, Railway Express Agency (REA) was the UPS of its day, arranging transport and delivery of parcels, money and other goods by means of the existing railroad infrastructure and horse-drawn freight wagons. The auction includes several early REA items, including a seldom-seen Pony Express-style canvas and leather bag ($800-$1,200); a strongbox stenciled “U.S.” and “OR Depot” with hardware and its correct key ($600/900); and a bright-red, double-sided “Railway Express Agency” sign ($600/900).

There could be an auction-day surprise when a rare and historically important 1913 American flag with 47 stars makes its appearance. The flag was flown at the State Building in downtown Santa Fe, N.M., and is significant because 1913 was the year New Mexico attained statehood. However, only three months after the flag’s introduction, Arizona joined the Union as the 48th state, thus necessitating a change to the American flag’s design, from 47 to 48 stars. It measures 75 by 60 inches ($2/20,000).

Other stellar lots include a large Ken Payne Western bronze titled “Borrowed Pony,” incised with the artist’s name, edition number 6/25, and “88,” and the year of copyright ($8/10,000); and a showy pair of Hamley angora batwing chaps in pinto pattern ($3,5/5,500).

New Frontier’s Saturday, August 24 auction will start at 4 pm MT, 6 pm ET. Preview in person at the show on Saturday. For information, call Scott Tarbell at 913-406-8057 or email newfrontiershow@gmail.com. View the fully illustrated auction catalog and sign up to bid absentee or live online through LiveAuctioneers or iCollector. Visit New Frontier online at https://www.newfrontiershow.com.