This is a flat, wooden pipe stem, painted blue-green at the bowl end. The end nearer the mouth piece is decorated with a combination of colored lines which are narrow strips of braided quillwork wrapped around to encircle the flat stem. These strips are carefully planned to create a striped design from the combination of narrow bands as they are stacked or lined up one after the other. The design is red, white, blue, and black on one side and different on the reverse, consisting largely of black triangles tipped with short horizontal bands and offset by long horizontal bands. The bands are colored blackish-purple, orange and white. A hide strap is covered with long white bird quill wrapped fringes. Red horsehair is tied on at both ends of the quillwork and bird scalps are also attached.

Two trade mirrors, one slightly larger than the other, are set into one side of a soft red wood paddle shaped frame. The top portion has a cutout opening shaped as a ball with a pointed top. Below the mirrors is another opening carved into the shape of a pointed ovoid. The wood on this side of the frame is chip carved and incised with lines rubbed with red and black, many of which look like elongated leaves. Below the mirrors are two triangular shapes with two extensions on each one, resembling the heads of horned animals. On the reverse side of the frame, a creature is incised. Clearly a quadruped with a heart line, its horns are placed at the juncture of its head and neck, and its tail transforms into a thunderbird. Below this is an irregular rectangle in double outlines of red and green with a petal shaped form at each corner. At the center of this shape is a red complex form made of two chevron shapes joined at their central points. On this side of the object, the pointed ovoid opening is outlined in red and green incised lines with red foliate form at one end and another small pointed oval at the other. Below this is a simple form in red line that mimics the shape of the end of the stick-like leaf forms within.

Loom woven beaded band.

This would be called a warrior bag but it is missing its fringe. Stiff, poor condition. Sioux.

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Jerome Blum

Henry L. Batterman Fund and the Frank Sherman Benson Fund

Long bodice (collar) of dentalium shell is a pre-style form of decoration because these shells were hard to obtain. The Sioux would have traded for them. This would be for a special woman and handed down in families. The very heavy dress does not look reworked and was worn very little and probably only used for special occasions. Blue wool trade cloth, red, white, blue ribbons might indicate July 4th reference. A slit is at the back of the dress and the basic pattern is T-shaped. Four-direction designs on the bottom would be prestige decoration and the little flowers along the bottom are unusual, odd. The bells are different colors. The body of the dress is machine sewn.

Horse hair bundle in "fob" beaded end.

Designs made up of incised lines and pierced or "cut out' shapes elaborate the form of this flattened section of elk antler. The upper end of this hair ornament is a carved, elongated semi-circle, rounded at the top, but it is cut at the bottom to suggest the form of two figures which emerge at the shoulders, as if headless, with slightly flexed knees. The figures' torsos have cut triangular shapes pointing downwards. The elongated, lower section of the ornament is pierced with circles, a semicircle, narrow or linear crescents, and two pointed ovals. Each of the "cut-outs" is surrounded with an incised outline, most of them rubbed with red pigment, with the following exceptions: the inner legs of the two figures, on the shins from the knee to the ankle, are rubbed in black. A horn shaped outline is also rubbed in black. At the rounded end, beyond the bone tube is a cross, cut through the flat piece of antler. A faded ribbon, now off-white, is tied to the bone tube and a thin piece of thong is knotted underneath the tube, on the unornamented side of the antler plate. The spreader has lost any remnant of feathers or woodpecker beak that once may have adorned it coming out of the femural bone tube.

This rectangular wooden frame that once housed a mirror is decorated with repeated borders of chip-carved triangles; resulting in an appearance of raised, zigzag lines. Closest to the rectangular depression made for the housing of the mirror is an additional border in higher relief. The top, right and left sides of this border are carved as a series of small, raised pyramidal forms. The bottom side of the border is a double row of opposed scalloped lines that combine to form horizontal, pointed ovals. This frame also includes a bi-lobed, perforated handle.