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Chippewa Great Lakes Beaded Men's Shirt c. 1890

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:25.00 USD Estimated At:1,500.00 - 3,000.00 USD
Chippewa Great Lakes Beaded Men's Shirt c. 1890
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This is an excellent Chippewa Native American Indian beaded men’s shirt dating to circa 1890. The shirt features a trade clothe construction with accents of early trade silk and fabric ribbons of red, green and purple. The shirt shows fully loom beaded panels across the chest and shoulders in a traditional geometric pattern, very similar to the beadwork seen on the same period Chippewa Bandolier Bags. The beadwork across the chest and shoulders show an Ottertail (otter tail) fringe which ends in the trade thread being woven into a tassel. The beadwork shows all period correct glass trade seed beads in such wonderful opaque and translucent colors as chalk white, greasy yellow, semi-transparent green, sky padre blue, Cheyenne pink, black, semi-transparent red, and more. At the base of the shirt shows a wide band of red / pink silk like trade clothe which is accented by small ½ inch diameter metal disk beads. Below the pink band is a wider band of dark brown reddish clothe that is adorned with smaller metal disk beads in pictorial designs that consist of stars, hearts and diamonds. In between each pictorial section at the base of the shirt are sections of three (with a total of 21) silver conchos. The shirt is nearly identical to the example printed in the publication “The Art of the Great Lakes Indians” 1973 on page 29 , item 107, described as “A Man’s Shirt c. 1890 / CHIPPEWA / Lent by Logan Museum of Anthropology 31039 / Navy wool shirt with loom-woven beadwork panels in otter tail design on shoulders, front and cuffs. Beadwork fringe with yarn tassels on shoulder and front.” The shirt offered in this lot shows the same navy like dark trade clothe with loomwoven beadwork, ottertail fringe, and geometric pattern. Provenance: From the Historical Native American Artifacts and Weapons private museum collection in Paris, France. The piece shows a very fine original condition for its early age and measures __”L x _”W from shoulder to shoulder and __”W from cuff to cuff.