Rustic Cherokee Medicine Man Indian Hairpipe Bone Breast Plate.

An exceptional design, one of the best we've seen! This Rustic Medicine Man Indian Hair Pipe Bone Breast Plate has a lot of artistry and natural character. This breast was made from genuine Hair Pipe Bones following the centuries old tradition. Colorful glass and unique trade beads make this impressive artifact a true one of a kind work of art. Plus, this breast plate has genuine leather straps providing support and structure. It measures approximately 10" by 15". Ribbons made from artificial sinew tie off around the neck. Tight fitting breastplates made of bone were used by Indians for protection in heated battles. Bone hair pipe, usually from small animals, and beads were fashioned personally by individuals who imprinted their own style on the plates to gain a spiritual advantage over their opponents. Hair pipe and Beads, to honor Earth Mother, were held together with leather. We got this one on a big close out from the Apache Indian trading post, so we don't know what tribe made it but it is surely Indian made.

For nearly two centuries white men who have traded with the Indians of the Eastern Woodlands and the Great Plains have referred to a tubular bead measuring 1� inches or more in length which they carried in stock by the name of "hair pipe." The origin of the name is obscure. Certainly the name itself fails to suggest the variety of ways in which Indians employed these long beads as articles of personal adornment. Nor should the application of this name to articles made by Whites for trade to Indians identify this form of ornament as a white man's invention. It appears more probable that the trade hair pipe was a white man's substitute for a type of long, cylindrical ornament which had its origin in prehistoric Indian culture.

A true status symbol, bone breastplates were in wide use as a type of armor by the early 19th Century. Today they are part of many ceremonial events. Long, hollow hair pipe dates far earlier than the pre-Columbian period for Indian ornamental dress. Its popularity grew from Eastern tribes use of shells, bone and stone. Eventually Colonial traders introduced glass and copper to necklace design in the 17th and 18th Centuries. Plains Indians used some hair pipe design for earrings � bone was preferred over shell. By the 19th Century larger, elaborate breastplates were made for ceremonial occasions.