Ute Beaded Tail Bag, Circa 1870

Ute Tribe

Hide, Glass Beads, Sinew | Item 2487

This is wonderful and early Ute beaded tail bag. The top 4 3/4″ is a bag, perhaps for fire lighting tools. The bottom 6 3/4″ is a decorative tail coming to a point. The front side is fully beaded with white, light blue, dark blue, pony bead blue, yellow and red with white hearts. The back side has three beads, one white and two light blue. These may have been used to tie a knot in the sinew. The beads are all sewn on with sinew. The hide is very soft and supple – the whole bag bends and moves easily. Added to the bag is a steel strike-a-light found in New Mexico, late 18th to early 19th century. The Ute and Apache used these tools as a regular part of their daily fire making process. This strike-a-light comes with the bag