Native American Beadwork - Blue Heron Gallery

A gorgeous Lakota Sioux lobed bag

This is something I have never personally seen before but a friend and compatriot has. He said that the blue bead background is unusual. Wonderfully soft deerskin, the bag unfolds like a flower. I have no idea as to the intended utility or the common name for this quite beautiful and uncommon bag. It is in mint, immaculate shape. 9" to the bottom bead.

$850

Northern plains beaded armbands, loom woven and leather, 12" circumference, minor losses

$475

Ojibwa dress in fair to poor condition, many metal discs missing, holes to cloth.
$1200

Beaded Sioux bag. Beautiful bag that measures 7 x 10″. Brain tanned hide, buckskin fringe, remnants of quill work. Soft and supple. Very good condition.

$825

Southern Plains beaded bag with quill work. Both sides beaded, 8 x 5"

$950

This is a bone awl which is original to the beaded case, you can see the knuckle indentation in the top flap. It is possible that it is Kiowa. Beautiful beadwork. Mint.
Approximately 8 & 1/2" long, not including bottom leather fringe.

$1600

This is a Sioux brain tanned dress from the first quarter of the twentieth century. The beadwork is gorgeous and virtually identical on both sides of the item. It is large, the dress measures approx. 54 x 54". The elk dreamers were a group that cultivated elk medicine, the medicine of love and attraction. In order to become part of the society one must have a dream vision that involved an elk.

This dress is in excellent condition.

$3800

A magnificent pair of early deerskin gauntlets in exceptional condition. 16″ long. Soft and supple. Circa 1880-1890 Stunning and patriotic in red, white and blue!

$1800

A wonderful 19th century northern plains round hide pouch with a great design and lots of greasy green! 4″ x 4 & 1/2″.

$600

This is a wonderful bag. Great condition, soft and supple. It has a lovely greasy yellow beaded lightning pattern. Red white hearts and pale blue beads complete the bold design. 6″ long

$750

9.5" long, soft and supple, beautiful beadwork on one side, the white beads are actually a pale fluorescent blue. Circa 1890

$1200

This is either a large hatband or a small necklace. What it is is a lot of beautiful quillwork, simply gorgeous. Four bands in the circle, the linear length as it sits is 17″ to the end of the tips. There are some minor losses and repairs necessary but it is in remarkable shape for being such a fine example of 19th century quill work.

$650

This is a Northern Plains pipe bag, probably Sioux, with incredibly beautiful beading, top to bottom. The central motif is like a navajo rug in its complexity, the orange red bounces perfectly off the blue. The side panels are equally lovely. 30″ long. The collection tag reads: from Oatman, circa 1880’s. One leather tie at top needs to be reattached.

$3850

Cheyenne Moccasins c. 1890
soft, minor bead loss
$850

Northern Plains moccasins, soft, nice.
$1100

A wonderful pair of 19th century northern plains moccasins. I am not sure if these are Cheyenne, Arapahoe or Sioux but they have a back seam and a straight line on instep base.
11″ outside length. Minor bead loss at toe. Missing a tin cone or two.

$1850

This is a superb pipe bag, probably Sioux. It is in excellent condition. Hide is soft and supple.
Beaded and quilled. Feathered tin cones. 30″ long, 6″ wide at the bead panel. Circa 1880’s.

$3850

This is a beautiful plains knife. It measures 18″ to the bottom of the tail, knife and sheath 12″. Great beadwork and parfleche, unusual blade. The old collection register says that it is circa 1890 to 1900. The old tag reads: an old buffalo hump bone knife and a sheath, a rare relic. The knife itself bears an old cursive inscription in pencil; Buffalo hump bone.

$6250

A lovely late 19th century plains child’s vest, possibly Sioux. Minor bead loss but overall in great shape, soft and pliable. Fairly large for a child’s vest at 16″ x 18″, would fit a small adult.

$3200

A sweet bag, 19th century, sinew sewn, probably Sioux. 3 x 4″
Great condition. Beautiful color and pattern.

$675

A Sioux indian knife in a parfleche sheath with remnants of red trade cloth. Knife marked *J. Knowell & Sons D. 8″ Sheath minor stains verso. The knife is curiously only sharpened, quite effectively, on the bottom portion of the blade.

Old tag reads on one side: Scalping knife and sheet (sic) Sioux Tribe Pine Ridge South Dakota. Collection number s-57. Reverse in somewhat older script reads: from battlefield of Wounded Knee So. Dakota fought between cavalry and Sioux Tribes near Pine Ridge. There are some blurred and undecipherable letters at top of tag. Below is an old type set paper pasted on that reads: Genuine old scalping knife, picked up on Wounded Knee battlefield, genuine, rare and vouched for.

$2950