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Artemis Fine Arts presents its Native American, Ethnographic & Ancient Art online auction on November 9, 2026, at 10:00 AM MT. The sale is anchored by Part 1 of a lifetime California collection—offered at auction for the first time—featuring historic and 20th-century Pueblo pottery, Navajo textiles, fine beadwork, basketry, and Katsina dolls, highlighted by a signed Maria and Julian Martinez San Ildefonso wedding vase. Rounding out the catalog is a diverse selection of global ethnographic art alongside antiquities from the ancient Mediterranean and Near East. In this image: Hopi Second Mesa Rectangular Coiled Basket | Katsina Figures, 13.5"L. Estimate: $600 - $900.
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Navajo Stamped Silver Pill Box | Hinged Lid, Four-Petal Cross Design. Native American, Navajo, Dinè. Native American, Southwestern United States, Navajo (Diné), ca. 1930s to 1950s CE. A charming hand-wrought silver box with a hinged lid, of a size suited to snuff, pills or small treasures. The lid is decorated with traditional Navajo die-stamped designs. At center is a four-petal cross of leaf-shaped stamps with fine interior hatching, each tipped with a small arrow or blossom terminal. Estimate: $400 - $600.
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Great Lakes Native American Beaded Victorian Button Boots, Chevron Loomwork. Native American, Great Lakes region, likely Ojibwe or Ho-Chunk, ca. 1900–1915 CE. A pair of factory-made Edwardian two-tone button boots of polished black leather with cream kid uppers, perforated cap toes, and a row of ball buttons along each side. Estimate: $800 - $1,200.
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Native American Woodland Period 3/4-Groove Stone Axe. Native American, Woodland Period. A hardstone axe head, pecked and ground into a weight-forward form, with a dark green-black surface and mineral staining. A three-quarter groove encircles the poll, leaving one face open where the haft was seated and bound with rawhide or sinew. The bit tapers to a rounded working edge, worn from use. Estimate: $1,000 - $1,500.
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Leonard Scow Kwakwaka’wakw Carved Mussel Rattle on Bird Stand, Signed. Native American, First Nations, Canada, British Columbia, Alert Bay, Kwicksutaineuk / Ah/ Kwaw / Ah /Mish Nation, ca. late 20th century CE, signed by Leonard Scow (b. 1962). A hand-carved wooden rattle in the shape of an abstract mussel. Each side of the mollusk-form rattle is decorated with a large 'eye' in black, white, green, and red hues while the 'foot' of the mussel doubles as the brown-painted handle. Estimate: $800 - $1,200.
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Casas Grandes Polychrome Bowl, Black & Red on Cream, Medio Period. A hemispherical bowl with a gently incurving rim. The exterior is slipped cream and painted in black and red with a broad band of opposed elongated triangles. These end in interlocking hooked "L" elements and are separated by long diagonal and parallel framing lines. The interior is unslipped, buff-orange and undecorated. Estimate: $600 - $900.
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Ugandan Hima Ekyanzi Milk Vessel with Coiled Grass Lid, Carved Wood. East Africa, Uganda, likely Hima or Banyankole, possibly Baganda. An ekyanzi, a lidded milk vessel carved from a single piece of omusisa wood. A broad, flaring base sweeps up into a tall tapering neck, giving the vessel the profile of a bell or a small volcano. Around the lower neck runs a carved band of parallel grooves that turns into stepped, meander-like blocks of vertical lines. Estimate: $600 - $900.
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Five Dan Miniature Masks, Ma Go Passport Masks, Côte d’Ivoire & Liberia. West Africa, Cote d'Ivoire and Liberia, Dan, Bassa, or Mano peoples, ca. early to mid-20th century CE. A compelling group of five miniature wood face masks, each carved in the refined idiom of the Dan and related peoples, where smooth planes, slit eyes, and softly modeled features suggest the deangle type - the graceful, feminine spirit of the forest. Estimate: $1,200 - $1,800.
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Indonesian Executioner’s Keris, 18.5" Straight Blade, Garuda Hilt, Gold Ganja. A forged-steel executioner's kris bearing a blade that is much longer and much straighter than typical kris examples. The long thin blade was designed to be thrust through the collarbone of the intended victim and ultimately piercing the heart. Estimate: $700 - $1,000.
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Large Sumatran Amber Pendant on Cord + Polished Amber Disc. Southeast Asia, Indonesia, Sumatra, ca. late 20th to 21st century CE. A wearable oversized amber pendant strung on a cord, accompanied by a polished amber disc. Formed from ancient tree resin that hardened over millions of years, amber has long been valued across Asia for adornment, trade, and ritual use. Size: 3.3" L x 3" W (8.4 cm x 7.6 cm) Estimate: $500 - $750.