Batt Wants To Dicker On Price Of Artifacts

It’s “unfair and unrealistic” to expect the Nez Perce Tribe to raise $608,000 by June, Gov. Phil Batt said in a letter sent Tuesday to Ohio Gov. George Voinovich.

Batt wants the Ohio Historical Society to reduce the price for 20 Nez Perce artifacts it owns. In December, the society agreed to sell the tribe the artifacts, appraised at $608,000 in 1993.

“These artifacts are invaluable to the tribe but of much less value to anyone else,” Batt said. “The people of Ohio can achieve an equitable solution to this matter by voluntarily reducing the price to a more realistic figure, say $100,000.”

“The tribe,” Batt wrote, “is being asked to pay an enormous sum for articles that are a part of its heritage.”

Tribal elder Richard Ellenwood said the tribe also is asking for a reduction in the price.

“It’s kind of an almost impossible situation,” he said. “That ($608,000) is a lot of money to raise for a tribe of 3,000 people.”

The tribe has raised about $20,000, Ellenwood said. A Washington utility company and national motorcyclists group are among those who have offered help, he said. The tribe hopes to have a professional fund-raiser hired by Thursday, Ellenwood said.

The artifacts, which include women’s dresses, a saddle, hemp bags and moccasins, are among the oldest known Nez Perce artifacts.