This is an original polychrome painted parfleche knife sheath and trade knife owned by Spotted Weasel - Hitunkasan Gleaka, a Hunkpapa Sioux dating to the 19th Century. Spotted Weasel - Hutunkasan Gleaka was a Hunkpapa Sioux medicine man and great warrior of the Crow Band. He rode with Chief Crow at the Battle of the Little Bighorn / Battle of Greasy Grass; traveled to Canada as part of Chief Galls' band and left early January 1881 to surrender with Gall to Major Ilges at the Poplar Agency sent to Standing Rock Agency, and with his family he traveled and performed with the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show from 1895 to 1899. It has long been said that polychrome painting on parfleche tells a story or has direct meaning to its maker, this piece shows Lakota sign language symbols on one side the crisscrossing symbol for "spotted" (done in two colors to tell about his life as both a warrior and medicine man, blue above represents the holy side of his life and the red below tells that he was a great warrior) and on the other side of the sheath the square's inside of squares symbol in Lakota sign language for Medicine Man (the outer square in blue represents wisdom, the red square is for war, the inner blue square is for heaven, the yellow square is for the sun that gives life, and the green square is for God, Wakan Tanka) as well as below the medicine man symbol is the Lakota weasel (as seen when sideways) in white, for the rest of his name (the symbol is surrounded by a black border for the west direction, the Thunder Being and victory with the red band representing the north direction of war and power and lastly the yellow triangles represent the east direct for the sun and the willingness to fight to the death). The piece is done in all mineral pigment paints (with an explanation of what different things such as yellow ocherous with Buffalo fat, white clay or limestone with Buffalo fat sometimes with wild grapes, blue clay with duck manure, blue berries and Buffalo fat). The piece is comprised of thick Buffalo Bison parfleche rawhide with Indian tanned Buffalo original belt tie and bottom fringes / ties. The sheath is paired with an early M. Hunter & Son Sheffield trade knife with clip point and curved blade belly showing a two piece coffin cut hardwood grip. The sheath was collected from a truck in Paris, France many years after Spotted Weasel had died, brought there with him on his travels with the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show. Included with the lot is a signed history of the piece by Wendell Grangaard (from The Guns of History, Inc in Sioux Falls, South Dakota) as well as several printed photos of Spotted Weasel and him with the Buffalo Bill group as well as a copy of the July 1885 census naming him (Hin-tun-ka-san-gle-ska Spotted Weasel with his family and personal property of 1 horse, 4 dogs, came: 91 Buffalo 28 Deer. This sheath is one of only a few known examples with translated Lakota sign language symbols and is truly a piece of iconic Native American and Western history. The knife measures 12.5”L and the sheath itself is 11.25”L by 3.5”W without the fringes and top strap (with the fringes and tie strap it measures 23”L.