486

Early Northern Plains Beaded Buffalo Hide Sheath

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:400.00 USD Estimated At:800.00 - 1,200.00 USD
Early Northern Plains Beaded Buffalo Hide Sheath
This is a fantastic early beaded buffalo hide covered parfleche lined beaded sheath and blacksmith trade knife from the Northern Plains. The sheath is comprised of brain tanned buffalo / bison hide with a parfleche rawhide lining being sinew sewn and has elaborate beaded geometric design in typical Northern Plains pattern including a greasy blue background and pattern in semi-transparent green, semi-transparent lilac. At the middle is a row of Indian tanned hide fringes with rolled tin jingle cones, a common Plains and Northern Plains feature. The bag is sinew sewn and the beadwork is sinew sewn, both early beadwork attributes. The sheath is paired with a Village Blacksmith Watertown, Wisconsin marked trade knife with one piece wood grip. The knife has a typical skinner, sometimes referred to as “scalping”, body of the knife which refers to the belly of the knife being curved in. The Village Blacksmith moved to Watertown in circa 1906 with this being an early example. Both have a nice wear with the blade of the knife have various cuts and some pitting. The sheath shows some slight bead loss to the edge, but overall little bead loss and well kept. Provenance: Tom Hardy Indianapolis collection. Sheath is 12”L by 3”W. Knife is 10.5”L.