This is an exceptional historic Sioux Native American Indian fully beaded saddle blanket dating to circa 1850-1880. The piece has been examined by a renowned Native American 19th Century beadwork expert in Billings, Montana and was confirmed as being pre-1890 and possibly as early as circa 1850. The saddle blanket shows an early presumably U.S. Army or U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs tent canvas fabric construction with Indian tanned hide fully beaded sections sewn along the borders. The horse saddle blanket is predominantly sinew sewn with some trade cotton thread sewing. The piece shows a multicolored polychrome traditional geometric design done in period correct beadwork of all glass trade seed beads. The beads include such opaque and translucent colors as chalk white, semi-transparent red, red, semi-transparent sky padre blue, cobalt, and medium blue. Provenance: The piece was purchased from a large Wyoming Native American artifact and weapons collection by a large western and Native American antiquities collector in Billings, Montana. The blanket shows a fantastic geometric wide border that continues around eight inches past the bottom edge and is accented by around eight inches of hand cut Indian tanned hide fringe that is adorned with solid brass hawk trade bells. The saddle blanket is mirrored and beaded on both sides with slight bead loss and original patina, a true sign of its early age and use. The piece is in fine preserved museum quality condition for its early age and is one of the more intricately beaded saddle blankets offered for public sale. Fully Beaded Sioux horse saddle blankets from the 19th Century are exceedingly rare with examples of the same quality and similar age as the piece offered in this lot selling for such large amounts as $12,000 from Cisco’s Gallery, $24,600 for the Lakota Beaded Saddle Blanket sold by Skinner Inc. 3/14/2015 auction, and $7,170 for the Sioux Saddle Blanket sold by Heritage Auctions in their 11/10/2007 auction. Measures overall ___”L x ___”W. The beadwork strips are __”W. For a complete representation of condition and for additional images please call 800-686-4216. It is the buyer’s responsibility to view each image and preview the item to determine condition.