Native American, North America, Montana, Sioux, ca. 1890 to 1920 CE. A hand-built buffalo leather knife sheath and a forged-steel knife. The singled-edged knife blade features a shallow drop point near the tip, a slightly tapered shoulder, and a leather-wrapped handle stitched together along the top and bottom. The blade-shaped sheath is lined with lengthy leather tassels, each strand fitted with a tinkling bell, and some of the longer strands with bright polychrome beadwork. The front of the sheath is densely decorated with additional beadwork in pink, blue, red, gold, and white hues to create eye-catching geometric motifs. Size (knife): 11.75" L x 1.3" W (29.8 cm x 3.3 cm); (sheath): 9.5" L x 2.625" W (24.1 cm x 6.7 cm)

One of the most cherished forms of art practiced by Native Americans is beadwork. Prior to the European arrival and the advent of glass in the Americas, tribes traded bead materials such as shells or region-specific stones across hundreds of miles in order to create artwork. Indeed, glass beads were among the first trade goods that passed from Europeans to indigenous peoples in the Americas. By the 1840s, the refinement of glass bead manufacturing techniques in Venice and Bohemia, where these tiny glass "seed" beads were made, brought about their trading in the Americas.

Please note this item falls under the Safeguard Tribal Objects of Patrimony Act and is not eligible for international shipping. Native American, Alaska Native, & Native Hawaiian objects are only eligible to ship within the United States.

Provenance: private Alamo, California, USA collection, before 2000

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#179770

Minor staining and desiccation to leather on blade handle, with staining to blade, and minor desiccation to sheath leather, otherwise intact and excellent. Great patina throughout, and wonderful preservation to beadwork motifs.