Native American Basket

I never get rid of my Native American collectibles.  I have beaded moccasins, various beaded bags, pottery, jewelry and baskets.  This basket is a pre-1950's Choctaw basket.  The design is Jacob's Ladder.  Though the dyes have faded somewhat, at one time they were red, gold and blue.  

NATIVE AMERICAN COLLECTIBLES

As I told you, I have always kept my Native Americana in as much as I would sell anything else for the right price. This possible bag is Plains Indian, probably southern, and I think Apache. The bead work is lightening and a raincloud. This is just what I remember from researching, but it has been so long ago, I'd love to hear from someone elses' knowledge about it.

A few beaded items. Notice the watch fob with the red, white and blue flag. Also, necklaces, most of it plains and done for the tourist trade after relocation.

Whoops, I'm not sure how this happened.

These are interesting in that I haven't seen them before. They are probably Muscogee Creek nation and I don't know the name of them, but they were made from clay and decorated by each owner. That is how they told their thingamajigs apart. They were placed over a long piece of wood and rubbed up and down to shape their arrows.

This is a teeny hand sewn doll about an inch in length.

The three dolls on the left are plains and the one on the right is southwest, probably Navajo for the tourist trade. The bone on the left has been broken off something. There is wood in the middle of it. I think it is a game piece of some kind. Notice the white plains doll with beaded necklace and belt and the Navajo doll's squash blossom necklace. The plains doll on the left has horse hair, the white one has some kind of heavy thread and the Navajo has real hair. I'll show you some Native American jewelry in another post.

NATIVE AMERICAN MEDICINE BAG

During my 'treasure hunts', I come across many things that speak to me one way or another. This is a native American medicine bag, used much like a Christian sacrament, as a symbol or token. Once a brilliant blue, the silk has faded over the years. It is tied with deer hide. Of course I had to peek inside. Pandora had nothing on me. Anyway, it contains plant materials; nothing I could make out as to what the plants were though I did discern a dried up flower in the mix.

I had a friend once whose step-father was a full-blood Choctaw Indian. Marla said he was always making bags and tokens and stashing them places like under the couch cushions, the bed, etc. He supposedly would pull hair from her hairbrush and wrap it around a bone. She wasn't sure what else he would do, but she thought he made the bags to keep them healthy. In OK, we have hot, dry summers and Marla said she had seen him down on his knees in a dry creek bed. He would cup dirt in his raised hands, chanting. He said it would rain. It usually did.

MOCCASINS

Of all the antiques and collectibles I've bought and sold over the years, the Native American ones are the only things I never parted with. I don't know why. I guess maybe because of the historical factor and the fact that there are finite numbers of the old stuff. I have stacks of books covering Native Americana and I'm embarrassed to say, its been too long since I have read them because I can't remember anything about these moccasins. The bead work designs, the beads themselves, colors of beads, style of moccasins, what the moccasins are made of and stitches etc. are all ways to discern the area and tribe they came from. The top ones are women's moccasins. Believe it or not, the women made all the clothes and yet, menswear and children's clothing are worth the most. The top moccasins are from the Arapaho tribe.

The rest of the moccasins are either children's or baby moccasins. They also are all Plains tribes.

Though older, early moccasins wouldn't have used colored leather. They did use natural dyes and dyed porcupine quill work was used by the tribes in the Northeastern U.S.

The bottoms of these are made of parfleche (brain tanned deer hide) and are sinew sewn. Moccasins from the northeastern U.S. were made from moose hide and smell smoky from the tanning process.

These baby mocs were from Kansas and are older (early 20th century) and made for the souvenir trade. If the moccasins were beaded all over (on the bottoms too) they were burial moccasins.

Totem Poles

I have this collection of totem poles. Some old, some new, most native American and I can't believe how dusty they are. Up high on a piece of furniture, they are hard to reach and well, just there, collecting dust.

This one is on the floor and about 6' tall. It is carved wood, but I'm sure it isn't Native American. Purely decorative.