Classic Period Beaded Knife Sheath, circa 1870

A Classic Period (Pre-Reservation era) knife sheath. Constructed of Native tanned hide and partially beaded with blue, white and yellow trade beads. There is red trade cloth along the edge and the hide is rubbed in red ochre. Two hide drops are edge-beaded.Sheath measures 4 ¼ inches wide x 20 inches in total length (12 ½ inches sheath + 7 ½ inch suspension)

The Crow, or Apsáalooke, originally lived in the Great Lakes region in the Ohio Territory and moved westward settling in the Dakota, Montana and Wyoming territories including the Yellowstone River valley.