Michael D. Higgins – Antique Indian Art

New Mexican Hide Petaca with black/red trade cloth

Traveling Trunk

Circa 1840

Width – 27″     Height –  16″    Depth – 18″

$1500.00

Mayo Indian Rattle Belt

Huichol Beaded Violin

Mexican Santo

Huichol Beaded Gourd

Mexican Wooden Negrito Mask

20th Cent.

Length – Mask with headdress and flowing ribbons is 54″

The negrito masks of Michoacán are used for the Danza de los Negritos. The mask and dress vary depending on the community. These dances are performed in San Lorenzo, Nurio and Ocumicho for the pastorelas and in Uruapan for the fiesta or feast day of Santa Magdalena

I collected this mask approximately 15 years ago while traveling through the mountains of Michoacán collecting masks from the Tarascan People- “Purepechua”.  This was bought in the village of Ocumicho and shows considerable wear from years of use.

$1200.00

Seri Pottery Figures

Seri Wood Santo Collected by William Neil Smith

Height – 7″   Width – 2 1/4″

Santos when worn around the neck protected the wearer from illness. When tied to the doorway, it prevented illness, evil and death from entering the house.

From the collection of Anthropologist William Neil “Seri Bill” Smith, Jr. who was born in 1920 in New York City and moved to Tucson, Arizona at age fourteen. He attended the University of Arizona from 1939-42 and 1946-48, studying under Byron Cummings and Edward Spicer. From 1945-1967, Smith made many extended ethnographical field trips to Sonora, Mexico, to study the Seri Indians at Desemboque and Tiburon Island. His research included lifestyle, customs, language, genealogy, kinship, and cultural changes due to the influence of outsiders. Smith’s personal Seri Indian collection was assembled while doing his fieldwork. The collection consists of over 700 objects covering all aspects of Seri life. Most of the objects were collected from 1947-1951. University of Arizona Special collections holds 24 linear feet on Smith’s archives and photography.  I bought the entire collection nearly 15 years ago and am now selling off some of items that I kept from the collection.

$550.00

Seri Wood Santo Collected by William Neil Smith

Width – 3 1/2″  Height – 1 3/4″

String attached for wearing around neck

Santos when worn around the neck protected the wearer from illness. When tied to the doorway, it prevented illness, evil and death from entering the house.

From the collection of Anthropologist William Neil “Seri Bill” Smith, Jr. who was born in 1920 in New York City and moved to Tucson, Arizona at age fourteen. He attended the University of Arizona from 1939-42 and 1946-48, studying under Byron Cummings and Edward Spicer. From 1945-1967, Smith made many extended ethnographical field trips to Sonora, Mexico, to study the Seri Indians at Desemboque and Tiburon Island. His research included lifestyle, customs, language, genealogy, kinship, and cultural changes due to the influence of outsiders. Smith’s personal Seri Indian collection was assembled while doing his fieldwork. The collection consists of over 700 objects covering all aspects of Seri life. Most of the objects were collected from 1947-1951. University of Arizona Special collections holds 24 linear feet on Smith’s archives and photography.  I bought the entire collection nearly 15 years ago and am now selling off some of items that I kept from the collection.

$400.00

Seri Wood Santo Collected by William Neil Smith

Height – 5″   Width – 1 1/4″

Santos when worn around the neck protected the wearer from illness. When tied to the doorway, it prevented illness, evil and death from entering the house.

From the collection of Anthropologist William Neil “Seri Bill” Smith, Jr. who was born in 1920 in New York City and moved to Tucson, Arizona at age fourteen. He attended the University of Arizona from 1939-42 and 1946-48, studying under Byron Cummings and Edward Spicer. From 1945-1967, Smith made many extended ethnographical field trips to Sonora, Mexico, to study the Seri Indians at Desemboque and Tiburon Island. His research included lifestyle, customs, language, genealogy, kinship, and cultural changes due to the influence of outsiders. Smith’s personal Seri Indian collection was assembled while doing his fieldwork. The collection consists of over 700 objects covering all aspects of Seri life. Most of the objects were collected from 1947-1951. University of Arizona Special collections holds 24 linear feet on Smith’s archives and photography.  I bought the entire collection nearly 15 years ago and am now selling off some of items that I kept from the collection

$450.00