Lot 249

Plateau Beaded Pipe Bag w/ Pipe & Stem c.1890-1920

Estimate: $1,500 - $2,500

Bid Increments

Price Bid Increment
$0 $5
$50 $10
$100 $25
$500 $50
$1,000 $100
$2,000 $250
$5,000 $500
$10,000 $1,000
$25,000 $2,500
$100,000 $5,000
This is an interesting original pairing of a turn-of-the-century, circa 1890-1920’s, Plateau Native American Indian beaded hide pipe bag with a steatite bowl and wood stem. The bag itself shows an Indian tanned hide and trade canvas muslin traditional pattern pipe bag with a red ocher mineral pigment, slightly dyed top section that has a scalloped cut border and a fully top and back beaded section; the beaded section is trade cotton thread sewn with early glass trade seed beads in a whimsical floral pattern and long Indian tanned hide fringe below. The beadwork shows a greasy white and semi-transparent background with colors in greasy blue, petit sky padre blue, cobalt, medium green, semi-transparent green, greasy yellow, semi-transparent amber, butterscotch, Cheyenne pink, chalk white, pipestone red, light pink, and a semi-transparent greasy dark lilac. There is slight bead loss, but it presents well overall. The pipe stem was found in the larger pipe bag and the bowl in a smaller Indian tanned hide bag tied onto the Indian tanned original tie straps. The pipe features an early pattern carved steatite bowl with a vase shape chamber that has a ridge along the top and obvious hand drilled manufacture with heavy smoking. The base of the pipe and stem insert are a slightly tapering rectangular pattern. The stem is crafted of a solid wood branch, scrapped, carved, and burned with a spiral pattern. The smoking tip is well crafted with a flaring pattern and just in front of the tip at the gripping area is a nice overlaid band section of pewter. Overall, the entire stem is covered in a red ocher mineral pigment coloring. The stem has natural stress hairline cracking, but appears to be solid. It is truly scarce to see an authentic early pipe bag with its original pipe bowl and stem. Provenance: From a private museum collection in the Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes region of France. Overall, the hide bag is supple with slight stiffening, some slight bead loss, and no signs of cracking. The pipe bag measures 26.5” L by 6.75” W. The pipe bowl and stem together are 11 3/8” L, with the bowl being 1.5” x 2.5” x 1 1/8”.