The lot features a circa 1875 polychrome painted Buffalo Hide War Shield attributed to the Crow Indians of Colorado. The piece is comprised of hard, parfleched Buffalo Bison hide which has been wetted and stretched over a hide-wrapped hoop wood frame and has the original braided shoulder strap of Indian hide still intact. The piece is painted in old mineral pigment ocher red, yellow, and blue paints with traces of the old yellow ocher still flaking off in places. There is a blue painted four-point morning star at the center of the shield with small blue painted dot pattern bordering above and bold blue / black line separating the two halves. The piece originally had two old dead birds attached at the lower section of the shield on the strips of old striped trade clothe, the old dead birds were removed to comply with all migratory bird laws which were enacted in the mid-1900’s (a true attribution to the shields early age and an interesting original addition). This could be an attribution to a society or war band and is a very unusual attribution making this truly a unique piece. Provenance: According to the collection log of Cyrus Eaton the piece was purchased at the 1998 Whitehawk Indian Show in Santa Fe, New Mexico from dealer Tommy Gross and has been in Cyrus Eaton’s London, England collection since. The shield shows staining, soiling on the reverse side of the shield, slight paint loss and some minor expected wear from early age and use. According to an article from Collectors Weekly which shows a similar polychrome painted shield with bird carcass, body or mummified bird these shields were considered medicine shields or hiding shields. The shield measures 20” in diameter. Truly an incredible authentic original Indian Wars era polychrome painted shield.