A Disabled Man’s Blanket

This stunning Navajo First Phase Chief’s Wearing Blanket made headlines when it sold for 1.8 million dollars at John Moran Auctioneers’ June 19th sale in Southern California, smashing the previous world record of $522,500 for a similar blanket. An example of the rarest type of the earliest phase of Navajo blankets, it emerged from obscurity when it was brought into Moran’s free appraisal clinic by a man whose family handed it down through the generations, casually using it around the house. The sale of this museum-quality treasure has dramatically changed his life, and made auction history.