This is an original Arapaho Thunderbird beaded amulet ornament circa 1880’s from the ex-collection of Alfred Kroeber and Mitchell Kwiatkowski. The piece exhibits a parfleche envelope rawhide remnant construction with period 19th Century glass trade seed beads light blue border and features being cotton trade thread sewn along with Indian tanned hide ties and a central Indian tanned fringe at the center with old tarnished solid brass trade beads. The central area of the Thunderbird amulet figure shows a yellow and red ocher mineral pigment finish with radiating pictorial painted design. The back has an old collection museum tag which is marked #1238. Provenance: From the ex-collection of Alfred Kroeber and Mitchell Kwiatkowski. Alfred Kroeber (1876-1960) was a famous American cultural ethnographer and author who wrote about many tribes along with collecting and curating materials for several museums. He received his PhD under Franz Boas at Columbia University in 1901, the first doctorate in anthropology awarded by Columbia. He is truly one of the most esteemed experts in Native American Anthropology and collecting from the turn of the century. Measures overall with top strap and bottom fringe 19.5”L without the fringes the amulet hide section itself is 6 5/8”L by 5 5/8”W.