How Much Do You Know About Arrowheads

Here's a huge collection of arrowheads, all from one estate that is presumably prehistoric, ranging from 7000 BCE to 100BCE, with a huge price range. The previous owner, who was himself an arrowhead hunter, had purchased a large collection at one point. So, we invited Ben Stermer, Arrowhead Expert, and Authenticator, to give an initial assessment of the collection in terms of its authenticity and value.

As an expert, Ben can accurately determine the area an arrowhead originated from just a cursory glance! It's no wonder as he has been looking at arrowheads for the past 30 years and he started collecting since the age of eight or nine.

The first thing that he goes about doing is to identify the fakes.

"Re-chipping" is a process in which someone takes an authentic arrowhead and reshapes it, changing its value in the process.

"Fresh crushing" is something experts pick up on to determine how recently a stone has been carved into and reshaped.

Thanks to Ben's vast knowledge of mineral deposits, he can determine where the material originally came from.

This Mckee uniface is a very localized type, with a very limited distributional range in Northern California dating in the 3,000BCE to 1,000 BCE range. This one point could fetch $200.

On being asked about the three features to look for to ensure the authenticity of arrowheads, Ben mentioned the following:

• Buy broken cheap stuff that is genuine because that is going to have the same characteristics as the genuine stuff. Those can be looked at under a microscope to learn about mineral deposits to determine the time period. But there is no guarantee that even after going through the process the arrowhead is genuine.
  
  The most expensive arrowhead ever sold was a prehistoric green obsidian Clovis point for $276,000! Obsidian is a naturally occurring volcanic glass formed when lava, coming from a volcano, cools rapidly with minimal crystal growth.

• East Coast points tend to be "rougher"
• Bi-face is a rock that has been worked on both sides into a tool. So that's not an arrowhead. Their values will range from $5-$10 each.

It is key to keep provenience for each item as that will significantly enhance its value.

A generalized estimate on all of the common arrowheads was put at around $100-$300 per frame though there were several items that could be worth more individually, based on a closer examination like the ones below.

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