A federal judge sentenced a Michigan antique dealer on Oct. 18 for selling a Native American lance decorated with more than 30 golden eagle feathers. U.S. District Court Judge J.P. Stadtmueller sentenced J. Hampton, 56, of Tekonsha, Mich. to two years’ probation and to pay a fine of $2,500.  On July 17, 2007, Hampton pleaded guilty to a one-count federal felony indictment charging him with the sale of eagle feathers in interstate commerce, in violation of the Lacey Act. 

Federal law prohibits the sale of eagle feathers regardless of the age of the feathers. The Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act protects golden eagles and bald eagles.  The Lacey Act prohibits the sale, in interstate commerce, of wildlife that has been taken, possessed, transported or sold in violation of federal, state, or tribal law.

Hampton operates Hampton Historicals, an antique business based in Tekonsha. Hampton admitted that, in April 2002, he traveled from his home in Michigan to Columbus, Wis., to sell Native American artifacts to an art and antiques collector. Hampton brought several artifacts, including the lance, with him.  Hampton sold the lance to the collector for $25,000.   

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service special agents became aware of Hampton’s crime when, in the spring of 2006, the Wisconsin collector tried to resell the lance for $38,000.  “A concerned citizen contacted us,” said Ed Spoon, a special agent with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “That’s how the Service learned about this illegal attempt to sell the lance.”  Spoon said the citizen who reported the attempted sale was motivated by a desire to stop the illegal trade in artifacts decorated with protected migratory bird feathers. Agents subsequently executed a search warrant in Columbus, Wis., where they seized the lance, computer evidence and documents describing the lance’s history.

Further investigation led the agents to Hampton in Michigan. Spoon said the nine-foot-long lance, or spear, appears to date back to the late 1700’s.  According to the documentation the Service obtained, it may be a Spanish lance that passed into Native American ownership in the early 1800’s.  This documentation also indicates that Comanche or Kiowa warriors in the Southern Plains region of the United States may have possessed the lance.  

Spoon said charges may soon be filed against the collector who offered the lance for sale in 2006.  

Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Sanders prosecuted the case for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Milwaukee.