John Brown pikes command high price

DARGAN, Md. - The spears that John Brown ordered for his abolitionist army were fearsome, primitive things. Nearly seven feet long, the pikes had 10-inch steel blades made for slashing and impaling those who resisted the slave rebellion Brown envisioned. ... One bearing the serial number 846 was sold through Dallas-based Heritage Auction Galleries in 2007 for $13,000. Continued

I seem to remember somebody selling these out of the back of Civil War Times Illustrated when I was a kid, at a pretty low price too. - Falmanac

Photo: Smithsonian Institution