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Northern Cheyenne Hair Pipe Breast Plate 19th C.

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:25.00 USD Estimated At:1,500.00 - 3,000.00 USD
Northern Cheyenne Hair Pipe Breast Plate 19th C.
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The lot features a fine authentic 19th Century Indian Wars period bone pipe breastplate attributed to the Northern Cheyenne Indians of Wyoming. The piece is from the Ex-collections of Ben Thompson and Tom Hardy and shows a nice even patina and signs of nice Indian used and wear from its early age. The piece is crafted from harness saddle thick leather sidewalls attached with old darkened sinew, hand carved hair pipe bone beads, colored glass trade beads and old brass trade beads with a nice tarnish from age and being worn on a bare chest. The bone hair pipe beads show a nice yellow to brown discoloration from much age and use and are accented by the long, frilly fringe-cut strips of Indian tanned hide hanging down the left and right sides of the breast plate with an old tobacco or snuff tin disk adorned with two juvenile duck feathers tied on the front as a gorget. The piece shows what appears to be the original leather neck straps still attached at the top. Provenance: From the ex-collection of Tom Hardy and Ben Thompson a noted war club and tomahawk collector and author / expert. The piece is similar to the example sold at our company in 2017 for $3,000 and the example sold by Heritage Auctions in 2012 for $2,600, both being attributed to the late 19th Century. Measures overall 15 ½ inches long by 12 inches wide.