Ken Partain

Ken Partain is a longtime collector and evaluator with more than 40 years of progressive study, collecting since childhood and building deep hands-on familiarity with relics from the central and lower Mississippi River regions. His expertise is strongest in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Northeast Texas, Louisiana, Western Mississippi, Western Tennessee, Western Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois, while maintaining an appreciation for artifacts from all states. Over the course of his work, he has appraised collections and handled a high volume of material, including ownership experience spanning hundreds of thousands of relics. Ken is especially known for his familiarity with Caddo cultural material from Arkansas, Northeast Texas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma, with strengths across flint, pottery, stone, and shell, as well as focused knowledge of Crowley’s Ridge flint from Northeast Arkansas and Southern Missouri and the point styles commonly associated with those regions, including Clovis, Dalton, Hardin, Cache River, Hayes, and Agee types.