For your consideration is an Authentic Buffalo Bill Cody Wild West Show Pink Costume Dress, circa 1883 to 1917. This pink dress features leather thong strips throughout, conchos and trade seed beads in floral designs. Provenance: from the ex-Jerry and Vangie Lee Collection, The Cowboy Connection Livingston, Montana; from the ex-Gary Jacobson Collection. This dress was found in the basement of a bank in Cincinnati, Ohio in a Buffalo Bill Wild West trunk with other Buffalo Bill items. Founded by William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody in 1883 in Omaha, Nebraska, the Wild West show was an epic touring spectacle that brought the dramatized frontier to urban audiences across the U.S. and Europe. It shaped global perceptions of the American West for decades. Women played several roles in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West. Annie Oakley broke ground when she and her husband and manager, Frank Butler, joined Buffalo Bill early in 1885. Not only could she outshoot most men, she did it while remaining entirely feminine, even girlish. Shooter Lillian Smith toured as a teenager with Buffalo Bill, disappeared for a while from public view, then resurfaced in Mexican Joe’s and other Wild Wests as “Princess Wenona, the Indian Girl Shot.” Pawnee Bill’s wife, May Lillie, was a Smith College graduate from Philadelphia who earned fame as a sharpshooter in her husband’s show. Women also played traditional dramatic roles as “prairie Madonnas” or as Indian captives. The dress exhibits bead loss, fading and tears consistent with extensive use. Buffalo Bill’s Wild West shows typically averaged 300 to 340 performances per year. During their touring seasons, which lasted roughly 190 to 200 days, the company traveled by train and frequently performed twice a day across dozens of cities. Measures 53"L x 43"W approximately, weight is 2lb, 2oz.