Original Item. One-of-a-Kind. This is an outstanding Native American-made beaded holster made from braintanned leather with the correct beading style for this period, around 1880-1890. There are two thin leather strips on the back meant for affixing to a belt or around a thin waist. There are thirty-two thin hide fringes along the curved edge, varying in length.

The front of the holster has a gorgeous beaded pattern of green, white, red, yellow, light blue, and dark blue. The beads are the typical glass 19th Century trade beads. The holster has a front flap with its own beading, and under the flap is the inner portion of the tie strap. The holster body itself measures roughly 8 ¾” tall and 4 ¼” wide. The stitching is still outstanding and the construction is entirely correct for the period. The underside of the flap shows the intricate and meticulous construction of the holster.

The hide itself is soft and supple in the manner associated with Native-tanned leather, and looks entirely correct for braintanned leather.

Along the curved outer edge are approximately thirty-two narrow hide fringes, varying naturally in length. Fringe was extensively employed on Plains clothing, bags, sheaths, and other personal articles, both as decoration and as an integral feature of hide construction. Comparable late 19th-century Plains pieces in museum collections combine tanned hide, glass beadwork, hand stitching, and extended fringe in much the same manner.

Beaded firearm accessories became an established element of Plains material culture during the late 19th and early 20th centuries as Native makers incorporated Euro-American firearms into established traditions of decorated personal equipment. Surviving museum and auction examples include beaded rifle scabbards, knife sheaths, ammunition pouches, and revolver holsters made in both native-tanned and commercial leather. A documented late 19th-century Central Plains beaded holster attributed to the Lakota, for example, was constructed from commercial leather covered with canvas and multicolored geometric beadwork, demonstrating the considerable variation in materials and construction within this category.

The holster remains in very good overall condition for its age. The hide retains flexibility, the extensive fringe remains largely intact, and the beadwork survives with strong color and presentation. The hand stitching and construction likewise remain notably well preserved.

This is an especially attractive example of late 19th-century Plains material culture, combining native-tanned hide, thirty-two hide fringes, multicolored glass trade beadwork, an individually decorated closure flap, and original rear attachment straps. Its construction and decorative vocabulary are consistent with documented Plains beadwork of approximately 1880–1890, and it will fit well into any collection surrounding Native American culture or the Wild West!