Collecting The West

From the Plains to the Parlor
Buffalo Bill’s Wild West ignited a collecting craze.

When Buffalo Bill began his show in 1883 the general public had had little exposure to the original human inhabitants of the American West. Buffalo Bill Cody was the first to present the Indians and other peoples of the West to the rest of the country. For the next 30 years Buffalo Bill’s Wild West introduced the Indians of the American West to the world. After his show closed, other Wild West shows and circuses continued the process.
In the United States and Europe, collectors began to seek American Indian artifacts. That interest influenced the Native peoples of the West, who often created objects specifically for sale at Wild West shows and trading posts. Traditions were adapted to meet the interests and tastes of the buyer. This impact of collectors on the Native American cultures could be seen at the Morphy Old West Auction in Santa Fe on June 21.
Among the 85 American Indian items at the auctions were Navajo rugs and jewelry from the Southwest. The artifacts from the Northern Plains, however, are of particular interest. There was a fully beaded Cheyenne cradle board, a bag decorated with a horse and images of the American flag, and a Blackfoot pipe with a beaded pipestem. The pipe and pipe stem were estimated to have been made in 1890, while the cradle board and bag were undated. The use of the American flag on the bag as well as the colors from the American flag on Blackfoot pipe stem may have been an effort to appeal to potential buyers. Many of these kinds of artifacts were sold to collectors in the late 19th and early 20th century.
The Northern Plains group most represented in the auction was the Lakota, with 12 identified items on the block. The auction included several Lakota moccasins and a beaded vest depicting four warriors and two American flags. A beaded doctor’s bag also revealed the adaptation of Lakota decoration to the tastes and practices of the en-croaching European-based culture. The Northen Plains items in the auction, all dating to the latter portion of the 19th and the

This highly beaded Lakota vest appears to have been created either for Wild West performances or for the tourist market. It combines popular symbols like mounted warriors with full headdresses and coup sticks as well as American flags. It probably dates to the early 20th century and sold for $19,680 at the auction.

early 20th century, are from a transitional period for the tribes. They mark an effort to find a compromise between their traditional ways and the tastes of a collecting public that was giving them more attention. Today they still capture attention, as seen at the Old West Auction in Santa Fe.