A Sioux Beaded Hide Drop with Mirror, circa 1890. Northern Plains.

Note: This piece is displayed with a reproduction pipe tomahawk.

An elongated hide panel worked in closely set glass beads against a turquoise-blue ground, with four descending, stepped V-shaped devices in red and yellow-gold beads. Narrow bands of contrasting beadwork frame the ends. Near the upper end, a circular, metal-framed mirror is secured above surviving ties and cords. Metal cones along the lower edge retain remnants of reddish tassels, and a long pendant of dark hair extends beyond the beaded panel. The reverse is undecorated hide.

Its elongated beaded form, suspension ties, metal cones, and trailing hair are consistent with a drop that may have been worn as a man’s hair ornament or used as a tomahawk pendant (historic tomahawks are documented with beaded, hair-bearing drops). 

A beautiful piece that speaks to the artistry and material richness of late nineteenth-century Sioux adornment.