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FBI investigating 'Apache scalp' seized from Fairfield auction house

The item was seized from Poulin Antiques and Auction House as part of an investigation into the illegal trafficking of human remains.
Credit: NCM

FAIRFIELD, Maine — The FBI is working to determine if an item seized in a Fairfield auction house earlier this year is a Native American scalp.

According to court documents unsealed on May 11, the FBI executed a search warrant at Poulin Antiques & Auctions and seized an item listed on the company's website as an "Apache scalp."

The FBI sought a warrant after a tip alerted them to a listing on the company's website.

"The item, purported to be a Native American scalp, appears to be a leather-like substance with long strands of black hair follicles coming out of it," FBI Special Agent Timothy J. Theriault said in an affidavit. "Attached to the scalp is an old yellowed hand-written tag that reads: Mescallaro [sic] Apache, Scalp. Killed at Johnson's Run Texas Sent to Frank Owens by Lance Brewington Former Maysville Man Above Told Me By Lance B. At Joplin Mo. 1899 W.W. Gibson."

It was part of an investigation into the illegal trafficking of human remains, which is a violation of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.

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Theriault said he confirmed with the store that the item was there and available for inspection, but two days later, it had been removed from the website.

Citing an ongoing legal case, Poulin's president and owner, Nick Poulin, declined to comment on the seizure when reached by phone Wednesday.

But Penobscot Nation Ambassador Maulian Dana of Indian Island said Wednesday that she hopes people will react to the story with disgust, grief, shock "and desire to reconcile and atone for the past."

"It saddens me to think that any human beings would want to celebrate, commemorate, and even profit from the violent and tragic legacy of genocide against Indigenous people in our homelands," Dana said. "It goes against standards of decency that should exist universally across people of all backgrounds and life experiences."

"Scalping is especially harmful to be reminded of for Penobscot and all Wabanaki people in Maine because we have proof of government sanctioned bounties placed on the scalps of our ancestors with different prices for men, women, and children," she continued. "Our people were targeted, hunted, and mutilated. We live with this knowledge and we carry the fear and trauma in our DNA. In order to heal we need this history reckoned with and told with truth and appropriate responses to such barbaric events."

The Poulins website on Wednesday listed hundreds of firearms, as well as British military tanks, German party pins bearing swastikas, and confederate flags.

Also on the site are letters signed by Adolph Hitler, Joseph Goebbels, and Heinrich Himmler, and "wrought iron slave hobbles," 9-pound shackles with an estimated value of $400 to $600.

In a statement Wednesday, Joel Casey, Supervisory Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Maine, said on Wednesday, "There is a process underway to determine whether the item is human, whether it is Native American, and whether, if Native American, the remains are that of a person who was a member of a particular tribe. If investigators determine that the remains are those of a Native American who was a member of a particular tribe, efforts will be taken to repatriate the remains back to the tribe for interment. All of these efforts will be taken in consultation with the Bureau of Indian Affairs and relevant tribal authorities and conducted in a culturally sensitive manner."

No charges have been filed, Casey said.

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