Traditional, native tanned hide shirt, leggings and “cactus kicker” moccasins belonging to the Apache Chief (and Geronimo’s nephew), Asa Daklugie. The shirt features two large nickel conchos on the front, surrounded by beaded sunbursts. Beaded trim along the bottom in black, red and white, and beaded in traditional Apache black and white design at the collar and arms. Red and white circular beaded patterns on the shoulders, with nickel button accents. A striking and distinctive shirt worthy of Daklugie’s status. Condition: minor bead losses, visible in photos.
The leggings are belted style, with bead patterns down each leg in red, blue, yellow and white stripes. The circular beaded designs that appear on the shoulder of the shirt are repeated here, except in black and white, with nickel button accent. Fringe runs down the 33" length.
The high-top, pictorial, cactus kickers are classic Apache moccasins. Red pigment on the turned up “nose” to the toe, accented by a beaded design at the top of the shoe. Pierced hide ankle ties. Beaded design crossed arrows are flanked by rows of classic Apache black and white diagonal stripes at the top of the uppers. Overall 37" long; hard soles 12" to the nose.
Included in the lot is a copy of “Indeh: An Apache Odyssey” by Eve Ball. The frontispiece for the book features a photograph of Daklugie wearing the shirt.
Lot 201, Brian Lebel's Old West Auction - January 20, 2017, Mesa, AZ.
Sold $56,050
Asa (Ace) Daklugie (1872? -1955)
Asa or Ace Daklugie was the son of Juh (pronounced, “Ho”), Chief of the Nednhi Apaches. His mother was Ishton, Geronimo’s favorite sister. He did not know the year of his birth, as “no records were kept at that time.” In his first interview with Eve Ball, he told her, “My father was a good man; he killed lots of White Eyes.” Indeed, Asa Daklugie’s father and his more-famous uncle, were among the fiercest and most revered leaders of a tribe known for its fierceness. He was Geronimo’s favorite nephew, and was chosen by Geronimo himself to be his successor.
Daklugie served as Geronimo’s interpreter for the S.M. Barrett book, “Geronimo: His Own Story.” Despite this, he often pretended not to speak English. Once Eve Ball earned his trust (the only White Eyes to ever do so), he became the primary interview subject of her seminal work, “Indeh: An Apache Odyssey.” The book is remarkable, as was its interview subject and its author.
Asa did in fact succeed Geronimo as leader of the Mescalero Apache. Though he passed away in 1955, he continues to be one of the most respected Apache Chiefs of all time.
“The result then is Daklugie’s book that you now hold in your hands—not his alone, of course, but largely Daklugie’s. His comments frequently are short tempered, explosive, prideful, belligerent, ironic, curt at times and again loquacious, impatient of white understandings or the lack of them, and yet always honest, often frank, and with nothing whatever subservient about them.”
-- from the Foreword to, “Indeh: An Apache Odyssey” by Eve Ball (Foreword by Dan L. Thrapp)