This is an original circa 1890-1910?s Ghost Dance Shield from the Sioux from the ex-collection of Peterson / Dennis L. Gahagen / Gilbert Cooper. The shield exhibits an thick Indian tanned buffalo / bison hide cover with Indian parfleche rawhide which is either buffalo / bison or cow rawhide. The thick cover is pieced together with sinew sewing, typical of early Indian manufacture. The front of the shield is polychrome painted showing a red border with five-point Morning Star in yellow with slight red outline and large crescent half moon in red with a yellow outline, all of which is mineral pigment ocher / ochre coloring. There are three Indian tanned hide ties surrounding the half moon, two of which carry domestic turkey and peacock feathers. The inner rawhide parfleche lining shows a round red painted circle at the center and small black line outlining the edge about 1 inch in from the outside. Nice original patina. The piece comes with several pieces of paperwork all marked with the JJ-464 number. First a letter from Dennis L. Gahagen from March 12, 2013 stating the shield to likely be Ghost Dance circa 1890-1910. Dennis L Gahagen is from Boulder, Colorado part of the Colorado Historical Society and the ATADA (Antique Tribal Art Dealers Association). He states the star representing the Morning Star, the half moon the moon and the red ring the and red circle on the inner piece the Earth. Dennis noted the shield originally had Eagle Feathers that he removed and replaced with turkey and peacock feathers. Next are the circa 1993-1994 journal entries from the Peterson collection number 34 noted as, "34. Plains hide warshield - red . yellow w/ feathers - 205 $60.00 $9.90 $69.90" with Dunnings Elgin, ILL. above. There is also a print out of the auction listing by Gilbert Cooper noting the shield as being from the Peterson collection and was bought from Dunnings Auction from Elgin, Illinois in around 1993-1994. The back of the shield cover has two older collection tags, first a round tag with metal edge marked, "JJ-464" on the back, "JJ-464 DOMESTIC TURKEY AND PEACOCK FEATHERS" and a paper tag marked, "205. Plains Style Hide War Shield, painted decor of star & moon. designs in colors of red, yellow, has feather suspensions, 16" diam. # 34 LE.="=" and "JJ-464" on the back. The shield is well kept and has some nice provenance paperwork. Another shield with provenance including Dennis L. Gahagen was offered by NAAC and Thomaston place the Rare 19th C. Crow Buffalo War Shield w/ Paperwork (for $7,380 and $16,250). The shield is well kept and measures approximately 16 inches in diameter and about 1.75-2.5 inches at its thickest.

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