This is a very rare original American Indian Dag knife and beaded sheath attributed to the Cree Native American Indians and dating to circa 1840-1850ó»s. This Chiefó»s Gradeó or Presentation Gradeó set was owned by noted collector Jim Dresslar who originally acquired it from Arnold Marcus Chernoff in the 1980ó»s. The piece is attributed as being from the Cree Indians with almost identical colorations and beaded floral motif examples being documented on several other Cree Dag Sheaths in the Chandler-Pohrt collection and the Warnock collection (Splendid Heritage). The dag knife is touch-marked SORBYó and shows polished black Buffalo Great American bison buffalo horn handles secured with copper rivets being framed by walrus ivory tusk inlays. The dag knife shows an artful, tapered pewter inlay around the base of the handle pommel. The sheath is crafted from Buffalo hide and is artfully glass trade seed beaded in typical 19th Century Cree floral motifs on a light sky blue background with greasy yellow, red white hearts, chalk white, semi-transparent medium green and semi-transparent medium blue. This style of ornate dag knife is referred to as a Chiefó»s Gradeó or Presentation Gradeó knife as they were given to Chiefó»s and tribal dignitaries during trade negotiations and treaty signings. The forged iron knife shows a raised median ridge running down the center of the blade, an early weapons features also seen on gunstock war clubs and lance blades. The piece was part of the famed antique weapons collector of Arnold Marcus Chernoff. American Indian early dag knives are commonly referred to as Beaver Paddle/ Beavertailó dag knives. This is due to the fact most dag knives were traded on the frontier along the Great Lakes region through the St. Lawrence seaway westward by early fur traders. From the Great Lakes region on westward the knives became very popular among the Northern Plains/Upper Plateau tribes such as the Cree, Metis, Blackfoot, Nez Perce, Chippewa/Ojibiwa and Shoshone. These were made to be killing weapons, this is why dag knives show a clean long double sided blade without any serration as they were for battle. Unlike other knives worn by Indian Warriors the dag knife would have been worn around the Indians neck on his chest. This is truly a very rare and early authentic set. Similar sets have sold at auction houses such as Cowanó»s, Skinners and Bonhams for such prices as $75,000 at Cowanó»s 4/5/2013 sale, $65,000 at Cowanó»s 9/20/2013 sale, $70,725 at Skinneró»s 2/6/2016 sale, $41,000 for a Sorby touch-marked plain handle dag from Brian Lebeló»s Old West Show & Auction 6/23/2012 sale and $78,000 at Sothebyó»s 5/6/2006 sale with the example being sold in this lot being of the same quality and rarity. The piece comes from the same collector as the Dag Knife sold by our company on 4/29/2017 for $10,200 (with premiums) that was authenticated by the Sothebyó»s expert David Roche. The dag knife has been documented and photographed in the 2018 book Rare American Indian Weapons: Tomahawks, War Clubs & Knivesó by Mark Francis on page 74 and 75. The knife measures 13.5ó L overall. The sheath measures 10.5ó L x 3ó W. The blade is touch-marked SORBY one one side. Sorby was the hallmark of John Sorby & Sons which was acquired by Lockwood Brothers Sheffield, England in 1844. Lockwood Bros. still operated out of their Arundel Street Factory but created the I&H Sorby items out of their Spital Hill Works factory. The Sorby touch-mark would be found on trade knives and dag knives which were exported to the American frontiersman and traded to the Native American Indians where they would alter the pieces to their liking. Condition For a complete representation of condition and for additional images please call 800-686-4216. It is the buyer۪s responsibility to view each image and preview the item to determine condition.