Dig It - 3/5/26

Wee doggy Fellow Seekers, this here is one of the fanciest Plains dolls that I have ever seen. She is late 19th-century Lakota, and boy, is she something special. The provenance says she was made by a Teton Sioux (Western Sioux, basically Lakota) and then given to a Lakota family from the Lower Brule Sioux Reservation. This doll still has all her accoutrements: dentition shell earrings, a choker, a German silver concha belt, a beaded awl case, and two beaded pouches. Her dress is beautifully beaded, as are her high-top moccasins. The pièce de résistance is her face painting. You know they used to use vermillion or mercury oxide to paint their faces; that cannot have been very healthy. Plains dolls don’t get any better than this one. Keep your powder dry and your eyes on the horizon. Lonesome