Early Beaded Tabacco Bag, Eastern Plains

Eastern Plains

Circa 1860 | Buffalo hide, Glass Beads, Silk ribbon | Item 2231

This is a beautiful and unusual beaded buffalo hide tobacco bag. The beads are very fine and are generally done in a pictorial manner. One side has four hands done in green with a red center. These are the most impressionable figures on the bag and they are executed in a fine way. The background around the hands has circles and antenna like spirals. The opposite side has floral elements done in blue and red beads. The hide is buffalo and the fringe is likely deer. The fringe has the top one inch wrapped in quills. The buffalo hide is soft and supple, and the fringe is more stiff. The very top is wrapped in a blue silk ribbon. The beads are all sewn on with an early thread.