Here’s a nice story … a sacred pipe, given as a peace offering by a Dakota chief White Dog to Lieutenant King, a U.S. soldier, while the chief was being held prisoner after the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862, has been returned to the tribe one-hundred-fifty years later.
The pipe, which had been owned by a Boston family since the 1880s, was put up for auction last week over the objection of the Prairie Island nation, which regarded it as a sacred object, but the auction went ahead as planned. The pipe expected to fetch $15,000 to $20,000 but sold to an anonymous bidder for nearly $40,000.
And then the anonymous bidder returned the pipe to the tribe. Just in time for Christmas.
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