What makes an arrowhead worth something?
There are many things that can have
an effect on the value of an artifact. Most importantly, condition, variety, age, and the material it was made from. Native
Americans spent their lives perfecting their skills at making stone tools, and passing down that skill the subsequent generations.
They were true artists, and it shows in their work.
Anyone who has ever hunted arrowheads can tell you that
they have probably bent over and picked up a thousand broken pieces of arrowheads, before finding a complete one. Most of
us have boxes full of broken arrowheads laying around that we call "field grade" artifacts. These are very common,
and aren't worth very much money. If you have a large number of broken or field grade points that you have found
yourself, you would be better off keeping them, since they are worth very little. I keep all of mine, and look back fondly
upon each piece and the day I found it. They are worth a lot more as a keepsake than they would be to a collector. There are
instances where a piece of a rare arrowhead could be worth quite a bit, so it is worth looking through those pieces carefully,
just to make sure.
A good example of what we call a heartbreaker (broken arrowhead) is pictured below. As you can
see, one of the ears has been broken off. If it was complete, a good market price would be around $150, but as is, it's
worth less than $25.
