Trimming Political and Patriotic Memorabilia

Plains Indian beaded coin purse with beautiful blue color, an American patriotic shield on the obverse, and a floral design on the reverse, circa 188...

Native American beaded coin purse with a folky patriotic shield on the obverse and a geometric representation of an animal on the reverse, circa 1910...

BEADED, NATIVE AMERICAN BANDOLIER BAG, WITH GEOMETRIC AND FLORAL PATTERNS, CHIPPEWA OR WINNEBAGO INDIAN NATION, circa 1880: Beaded, native American, bandolier bag, made ca 1880. The layout and designs utilized I would attribute as being of Chippewa / Ojibwe origin, or Winnebago / Ho-Chunk. The regions in which these native American peoples lived overlapped some, with the Chippewa ranging from what became North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan, extending into Canada, and the Winnebago residing in parts of Wisconsin and Minnesota, but extending into what would become Iowa and Nebraska. Both utilized similar step-down geometric designs, terminating in stylized arrow fletching, plus elongated, eight-pointed, Lemoyne stars, and a similar layout of panels, sometimes with open floral work in the upper register, similar to what is present here, and geometric borders that utilized a single color of beads. I presume that the work of one tribe probably influenced the other. Because the Winnebago were nearly wiped out by small pox in the mid-18th century, and then again in the 1830's, I think that the origin is more likely Chippewa. Regrowth of the Winnebago people over time came from intermarriage with neighboring tribes, which would certainly account for similarities in beadwork on bandolier bags. There is also some overlap in the designs used by the Potawatomi, who actually gave the Ho-Chunks the name "Winnebago," and whose range overlapped in present-day Wisconsin, also encompassing regions of what would become Oklahoma, Kansas, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and parts of Canada. There would have certainly been intermarriage between the Chippewa and Potawatomi, whose range had even greater overlap. Bandolier bags are large, heavily beaded pouches with a slit at the top. They have a beaded strap worn diagonally over the shoulder, thus resting the bag at hip level. The design is created using glass beads, a European trade good that replaced the traditional porcupine quills. The bags themselves are typically constructed from trade cloth, such as cotton, wool, velvet, or leather. This particular example is made primarily of tan wool broadcloth, a terrific printed cotton fabric of the 1860-1870 era, black with geometric design stripes, and decorated with dynamic red, blue, black and gold geometric beadwork on a white beadwork ground. Woodlands floral designs adorn the upper register, above the mouth of the bag, in two shades of blue. The bag is trimmed with green wool or cotton tape and broad red wool herringbone tape, a fringe made of knotted blue and green wool yarn. This is a very desirable example because of its beauty and its early fabrics, most of which pre-date the bag by 10-20 years and were undoubtedly acquired by trade with various parties. The Great Lakes Native American beaded bandolier bag...

An impressive antique Plains American Indian vest fully beaded on both sides with a number of motifs including American Flags, crosses, thunderbirds and ha...