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Ghost Dance Polychrome Painted Dance Shirt c. 1890

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:1,500.00 USD Estimated At:3,000.00 - 5,000.00 USD
Ghost Dance Polychrome Painted Dance Shirt c. 1890
The lot features a rare authentic Ghost Dance polychrome painted muslin dance shirt from circa 1890 from the Little Blue Hand Robert Dickens Collection. The shirt shows a muslin trade fabric make with hand cut fringe along the outside and bottom of the arms and is decorated with mineral pigment polychrome dye paints in brown, red, yellow, green, black and outlines of black. The shirt is painted on both sides. One side shows a Buffalo / Bison in red with black outlines with salvage like black gradient edge at the bottom. The other side shows several painted effigy figures such as a jumping Buffalo Bison (in brown and black), a Waterbird (in yellow and black), a four-point Cross (in brown and black), a stepped diamond or Morning Star (in green, brown and black), and at the bottom two arrows facing each other (in yellow, brown, red, black and green). There is quite a bit of loss and holes at the center of one side, some discoloration and some slight holes elsewhere. The top collar is edged in red velvet with some loss. Ghost Dance Shirts in muslin with Ghost Dance painted figures done in rough fashion are well documented with notable shirts being offered at auction such as Ghost Dance Muslin Shirt 1890 sold by our company NAAC in 2020 for $6,615 which was also offered by High Noon Western Americana Auction in 2013 for $3,500, the example sold at Cowan’s April 2018 sale for $22,000, The shirt from Allard’s March 2003 sale for $7,500 and this example. Provenance: From the Robert Dickens aka "Little Blue Hand" collection from Chicago, Illinois and Livingston, Montana. The shirt was in his collection for many decades until his passing. Measures overall 48”W by 39”H.