Made by Woody Blackwell

Shown below is an investment grade collection of lithic reproductions of projectile points, two knives and a sword, all made by Woody Blackwell , one of the world's most famous (and infamous) flint knappers. All of the points in this collection were made between 1989 and 1992 when Woody lived in the Washington, D.C. area (he served as a major in the U.S. Air Force). Ben Ruhe put together this trove of Woody Blackwell stone weapons and tools during this same period. Ruhe, who also lived in Washington, D.C., visited his apartment, talked with him on the telephone, and received mail from him in which he discusses the various pieces. Woody is famous for his involvement in the fraudulent reproduction of early North American lithic projectile points. Because his knapping skills fooled almost all of the experts (see Peter Bostrom's web site), Woody has earned a reputation as one of the world's best knappers. This collection consists of 18 projectile points, a knife, and an 18-inch Tennessee-style "sword." All are notable for their exceptional craftsmanship. Copies of correspondence between Woody and Ben Ruhe (the owner of this collection), will be made available to the purchaser. Dr. Mike Gramly, a geologist and archaeologist (Harvard Ph.D.) who specializes in Early Man in North America, has examined the collection and commented favorably on the craftsmanship displayed by Blackwell. He has no doubt whatsoever that everything viewed was created by Blackwell. Ruhe's extensive correspondence with Blackwell corroborates this. The largest piece is a reproduction of an 18 inch Mississippian type of lithic sword. Blackwell used the very difficult edge-to-edge or outré passé percussion flaking technique to make the Mississippian ceremonial sword. There are also two lithic knives and 17 lithic points and some channel flakes. Of the projectile points, thirteen are fluted. Ten are of the Clovis type (one broke as the second of two channel flakes was removed), two are Folsoms, and one is a Cumberland. Most are made from heat-treated Burlington Chert. The largest Clovis measures 6 inches. The large black Clovis is made out of Brandon Flint from Brandon, Norfolk, England. This Brandon black is considered by some knappers, including Virgil Tonn, of Georgetown, Texas, to be the finest flint in the world. Ruhe gave Blackwell a nodule of Brandon black and Blackwell fashioned it into a large point. Because Blackwell's channel flake on one side of the point veered sharply to the right just at the tip, thus making it unsightly, Ruhe shipped it to Tonn to retouch, which he did with great skill. In the touchup process, however, the point became shorter by some inch and a half. The different "hand" at work on the tip is obvious upon cursory examination. Note that Blackwell and Tonn earlier worked on projects together, Tonn grinding preforms, Blackwell flaking them, then Tonn touching up the edges. The other five points are made from a variety of stones including dacite (matte black in color) and dramatic black-and-white Arkansas Novaculite. Two of the other points were made from unknown banded stone (mookite?) from Australia. In addition to the points, there are two outstanding knives, both notably thin. One is almost 9 inches long and made from dramatic black and white novaculite. The other is a large Taconic jasper (identified by Gramly) corner-tang knife that prominently incorporates in its center a five-rayed blastoid fossil from the Permian Age of 450 million years ago. Another highlight of the collection is the foot and a half long chert "sword" which replicates Indian arcana from the Mississippi River basin. The sword is of gray novaculite. Blackwell used the extremely difficult edge-to-edge, or outré passé, percussion flaking technique in making this unusual weapon. One of the fluted points is broken. This occurred when the second and last channel flake was being removed. This breakage makes the point that the last two flaking blows when creating a fluted point are the most dangerous from the point of breakage, a hazard well known to Indian knappers twelve thousand years ago. Fluted flakes from several of projectile points are included in the collection. In one case, both channel flakes are preserved intact. In others, the shattered channel flakes are preserved on transparent tape. The photograph below shows the entire collection from which you can gauge the relative sizes of the points. Below the photograph is a table depicting all items in the collection. Each graphic in the table is a link too a larger photograph that shows more detail of each point. Photos of the knife, sword and channel flakes are also included in the table.