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MACK TUSSINGER'S OKLAHOMA ECCENTRICS
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COPYRIGHT NOVEMBER 30, 2002 PETER A. BOSTROM
A very elaborately flaked Mack Tussinger Oklahoma eccentric.
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A MACK TUSSINGER OKLAHOMA ECCENTRIC
TOM RICHARDSON COLLECTION

    Like so many of the Oklahoma eccentrics, this one is also very unique and is beautifully designed. It looks like it was made out of a North point or a similar point type that was wide and fairly thin. A small corner notched arrow point was pressure flaked into the center of the base with two "serrated wings" that almost completely encircle around it. The blade edges also have the "classic Tussinger serrations" that are very large, delicate and deeply notched. This example measures 3 11/16 inches (9.4 cm) long and 2 1/16 inches 5.2 cm) wide.

   The cache of strange looking eccentrics that Mack Tussinger "found" change his life and his family's too. As the early accounts go, "with depression upon them" and "the wolf growling at the door" he began selling the smaller eccentrics to the family doctor, Dr. W.C. Bernard. It took "a full days trip both ways, using a little of the night" by horse and buggy to travel the 17 miles to Seneca where the doctor Lived.

A Mack Tussinger Oklahoma eccentric.
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A MACK TUSSINGER OKLAHOMA ECCENTRIC
TOM RICHARDSON COLLECTION

   Another example of an eccentric with arrow points pressure flaked into the design. This one has two corner notched points located where the barbs of a normal point type like an Etley or Hardin Barbed would be. It also has "the ultimate stylized base" and extreme notching that goes on forever. This one measures 3 1/4 inches (8.3 cm) long.

    Mack sold hundreds of eccentrics to Dr. Bernard over a period of several years. Mack and his wife Sue were able to move into a better home and in fact "they moved several times, bettering themselves each time." Mr. Tussinger claimed to have sold some of the larger eccentrics for $100. to $150. to John Maff of Newark, New Jersey. That was a lot of money back then.

A highly serrated Mack Tussinger Oklahoma eccentric.
A MACK TUSSINGER OKLAHOMA ECCENTRIC
TOM RICHARDSON COLLECTION

   Another highly serrated example. The style of serrations along the blade edge of this example are a signature of the Tussinger eccentrics. They are seen repeated over and over on many different sizes and shapes of his "ceremonial flints." The serrations are actually a series of expanding side notches with concave bases in between. This one measures 3 inches (7.6 cm) long.

    It's difficult to say exactly how many eccentrics were sold by Mack Tussinger. In 1960 Willard L. Elsing is credited with owning the "largest known private collection" of the eccentrics which numbered 800. Half of these were donated to the Oral Roberts University to the Elsing Museum. The museum was named after Mr. Elsing who also gave his life's work of collected materials of minerals, gems, Native American artifacts and oriental sculptures. The other half of his Oklahoma eccentrics collection was recently sold by another institution that also received them as a gift from Mr. Elsing. All examples illustrated in this article were once a part of that collection.

A Mack Tussinger lizzard effigy Oklahoma eccentric.
A MACK TUSSINGER OKLAHOMA ECCENTRIC
TOM RICHARDSON COLLECTION

   This long eccentric looks like a stylized version of some type of animal like a lizard. It has a long tail and "feet" on one side. It's made of white chert and measures 7 3/16 inches (18.3 cm) long.

    Claude Stone, who later became a Judge, writes in 1948 that there were 3,500 eccentric flints found in the Rhoades Mound of Delaware County, Oklahoma, in 1921. They have turned up in many different collections over the years. Mack said that when he discovered the original cache in 1921 he dug them out of the mound and reburied them in his back yard. He says he made "his own private mound." Over the years, each time Mack moved he also "moved his secret mound to another back yard." The problem with the original excavation is that Mack Tussinger is the only person to have witnessed any eccentrics excavated from Rhoades Mound. No scientific excavation of the mound ever produced any eccentrics.

A very wide Mack Tussinger Oklahoma eccentric.
A MACK TUSSINGER OKLAHOMA ECCENTRIC
TOM RICHARDSON COLLECTION

   This example looks like it was made from a large wide knife like a North point from the Middle Woodland period. The basal area is shaped something like crab claws. This one measures 3 inches (7.6 cm ) long.

    In the booklet titled "Treasures From A Pre-Historic Age", Willard L. Elsing is quoted as saying that he "believes the possibility that Easter Island was the highest point of the Lost Continent of Mu." In this same book the eccentrics from Oklahoma are compared to some of the figures from the wooden tablets from Easter Island. Irene Herringa writes "This pre-historic art in flint, in Mr. Elsing's opinion, will eventually prove to be one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of the ancient world, as brought to light in this atomic era."

A Mack Tussinger Oklahoma eccentric.
CLICK ON PICTURE FOR LARGE TRIPLE IMAGE
A MACK TUSSINGER OKLAHOMA ECCENTRIC
TOM RICHARDSON COLLECTION

   This eccentric has a small "crab claw" on the base and several "classic Tussinger notches" along the blade edge. This one is very thin and was made on a piece of pink colored chert of good quality.

    Over the years, there have been many people involved with the Oklahoma eccentrics who were highly skilled professionals in their different fields of work. There were archaeologists, court Judges, medical Doctors, museum curators and others. Some of these people believed that Mack Tussinger's eccentrics would somehow redefine the past archaeological record in a way that would shake it to its very foundation.

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"REFERENCES"

1940, "Study of the Oklahoma Eccentric Flints", by H. Holmes Ellis, 7 pages.
1948,  "Journal of the Illinois State Archaeological Society---Eccentric Flints", by Claude U. Stone, pp. 3 & 4.
1948,  "The Masterkey, July, 1948" article by Ruth D. Simpson.
1960,  "Treasures From A Pre-Historic Age---The Eccentrics of Oklahoma", by Irene Heeringa, 15 pages.
19--, "Album Prints", Frontier City Museum, pictures of 5 frames of Mack Tussinger's Oklahoma eccentrics.
1997, "Chips, Vol. 9, #1, Grey Ghosts and Old Timers", by D.C. Waldorf, p. 11.
Personal communications with Dr. Don Wycoff, University of Oklahoma at Norman.
Personal communications with Dr. Robert Bell.

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