75A

Sioux Ghost Dance Drum from Fast Thunder c. 1890

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:25.00 USD Estimated At:3,000.00 - 6,000.00 USD
Sioux Ghost Dance Drum from Fast Thunder c. 1890
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The lot features a rare, authentic circa 1890 Lakota Sioux Native American Indians polychrome painted stretched hide drum from the Ghost Dance movement. The extraordinary piece was collected from the Lakota Sioux at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota by Reverend Joseph Ward. The drum spent almost 80 years on display at the Yankton Indian College Museum in Yankton, South Dakota until the college closed and sold off the museum collection in the mid 1980’s. Yankton Indian College, founded by Reverend Ward, was the first Native American Indian College in the United States. Reverend Joseph Ward was a noted early Sioux historian and collector. Ward acquired the drum from the a Sioux Warrior named Fast Thunder, who at one time road with legendary War Chief Crazy Horse on his excursions. The piece was listed in the Museum collection as being, “Fast Thunder’s Drum”. The piece is manufactured of a Buffalo hide wetted and stretched tightly over a bent wood plank frame. The drum has excellent polychrome paint in natural pigments showing the Ghost Dance symbols, representing the water bird, half moon, full moon, and star shapes in colors black, green, yellow, and blue. The drum has some fading and wear indicative of its early age. Authentic Ghost Dance Relics are exceedingly rare and desirable. The drum measures 16” in diameter.