Plains Beaded Hide Pipe Bag & Garters, ca. 1880
GUEST:
I went to a farm auction in 1999, and I simply bid on it. It was my birthday, so I decided I was going to get this for myself for my birthday.
APPRAISER:
It caused quite a commotion at the table because it truly is beautifully
done. It is a pipe bag. When you weren't smoking, out of the sacredness of the pipe, you would take the pipe bowl and separate it from the pipe stem.
GUEST:
Oh, wow.
APPRAISER:
And put it in your bag.
GUEST:
Very nice.
APPRAISER:
So it was a man's...accoutrement. And you have some arm garters there, too. The pipe bag is from the-- we believe-- from the Plains Cree, the body of it. And then the panel drop underneath it is probably Sioux. it was made around 1880. As you can observe, the beads on the panel, above the fringe, are the same beads that are used in the making of the arm bands, which means they were made about the same time. The beads are seed beads that... Many of them ceased to exist in manufacture after 1880. They were traded in to the Native Americans. They came from primarily Venice, Belgium. The person who executed this bag was a master. It was a woman. The body of the bag itself is made of deer hide, and it has deer hide fringe, it's incredibly supple. At an auction market today, we feel conservatively that it would be-- the bag itself would be $7,000 to $9,000.
GUEST:
(whispers): Wow. That's nice.
APPRAISER:
And you paid how much?
GUEST:
$67.
APPRAISER:
There you go.
GUEST:
(chuckles)
APPRAISER:
The set of armbands at auction would sell for $1,000 to $1,200.
GUEST:
Oh, really?
APPRAISER:
There's a specialness to this that made us all, you know, a little chilled. It's a treasure. It was a thrill. Thank you very much.
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