Antq Yakama Indian Nation Dentalium & Ruby Glass Beads Fancy Dance Regalia Piece

Description

Up for auction is an
Antq Yakama Indian Nation, Yakima Valley, WA State, Dentalium & very pretty Iridescent Ruby Glass Beads Fancy Dance Regalia Piece. I think this would have been sewn on to the regalia at the top leather piece where the two holes are. And then as the dancer danced, this piece would move with the dancer. It is 11 1/2" long. It has 7 repeated sections with 4 strands. Each section has 4 Dentalium shells with two iridescent ruby blass beads above and below each shell, for a total of 16 beads in each section. It looks like the surface iridescence has worn down to the ruby color of the glass beads. These beads are slightly larger than 1/8" by 1/8".  There are leather spacers between each section. There is no spacer between the bottom two sections. Instead, there are square leather bead/spacers used. The bottom 3 1/2" of the strands are loose from each other for maximum movement. There are an extra two glass beads at the bottom of each strand, just above the four 1/2" tall cowry shells that are on the bottom of the strands. Between the bottom bead and the cowry shell there are knots tied in the beading string and it looks like it could be sinew. (Which could make this an older piece.) There are a total of 120 glass beads and 28 Dentalium shells that have an average 3/4" length. Each section is 1 3/4" long.
This piece was found on the Yakama Indian Nation Reservation.
The Dentalium species occurs from Alaska to Baja California, and were especially by indigenous people from deep waters around the Pacific Northwest coast, especially off the coast of Vancouver Island.
- This piece was really dirty when I found it. I carefully used warm water and Dawn soap and a soft tooth brush to clean the glass beads and the the Dentalium shells.  The shells still have some of this smokey staining that has occurred over the years. The top piece of leather with the stitching around the edges is cracked down the middle and has hardened. Two of the shells are partially broken.  The thick leather spacers are still pliable.
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Thanks! Paul