HOT ! Native American Chief & Tomahawk Dish

A sterling silver small dish featuring a stamped Native American Chief. This stunning piece was made by the American silversmith, Unger Brothers. The rare shaped dish has a relief of an extremely beautifully captured head of a Native American war chief, and includes an applied Tomahawk. It is exceptionally well executed, and has a very captivating gaze. This shape, if not originally purposed to be so, could lend itself to being an ashtray with the slightly Tomahawk helping to lift the lit object out of the ash. However, it does not have an exceptionally high border, so if it is in an area exposed to wind, it would not do a great job in retaining ash.

This ash tray tray, or dish, along with the round example also currently listed, is a very rare edition from all of the Unger Native American items. We have been lucky enough to buy and sell a number of rare Unger pieces, and this is the first time we have handled this example. The base is stamped with the classic round Unger Brother\'s silver makers mark, with \"925 Fine Silver\" bordering it.  The marks are sharp and it would appear that this piece has never been machine polished. The condition overall is exceptional. The Tomahawk and chief are superb. Often there is denting and major damage. His face protrudes quite a lot in certain areas, causing these areas to be subject to damage. It is not overly thick in gauge, and this is why the stamping into the silver is crisp. It is hard to execute the depth or detail if a thick gauge is employed in the production.

This was part of a series of pieces that Unger made in this pattern during the turn of the 19th Century. From the 1904 Unger catalog there are over sixty pieces featuring Native American designs. It was a highly celebrated subject matter for Unger Brothers, along with a few other domestic silversmiths. However, it is the dies made by Unger that are truly the best. Made in Newark, New Jersey, America, circa 1900, and very limited in their production  numbers.