Dig It - 5/21/26
Dig this fellow Seekers! What did Navajo pouches look like before they had silver? They looked like this one, which probably dates from the 1840s to 1860s. Before the Navajo wore silver, they wore glass beads and used them very sparingly. This pouch is edged with early “real” beads, while the crosses are worked in smaller seed beads. One side of the strap has an applied piece of elk antler with holes drilled in it. That is for the percussion caps used to fire a percussion rifle. There is also a powder horn to load it. The shape and design of the pouch are typical of Euro-American huntsman’s pouches from the period, and this one may have been traded or captured.
The ledger drawing depicts a Navajo/Kiowa skirmish. The Navajo are on the left, and the figure at the bottom is wearing a pouch with a powder horn. Early Navajo beaded pouches are as rare as hen’s teeth, and since hens ain’t got no teeth, that means rare. Well Seekers, it's time for me to mosey on down the trail. -Lonesome
