Doctors Bag

I discovered a beautiful leather 1940's doctor bag at a local auction last Spring and knew it was meant to be beaded in the 19th century Native American Reservation Period style.

This bag measures 9" high by 8" wide and 14" long. It took about 500 hours to bead. The interior is very clean leather. The front pictoral is copied after a Plains storage bag and depicts two Native warriors of different tribes greeting each other in their finest attire. It is beaded in two needle flat stitch with the green background done in "row stitch"(lazy stitch). The back of the bag, also beaded in "row stitch", is a copy of the geometric design found on an Arapaho Possible bag. It is beaded in pink, green, black and mustard yellow beads. One end of the bag shows an Eastern floral pattern beaded with a two-needle technique and the other end is an original design of an eagle silhouetted against the sun with rainbow stripes in the background. Each corner of the bag is beaded in a colorful geometric pattern. I used glass beads size 11 and smaller. Some are metallic others are 3 or 5 cut to catch to light. It is beaded on light canvas with Nymo thread and sewn to the leather bag.

In an American Indianist Society Craft competition this bag won Best of Show, the Judges Award and the Peoples Choice award.

It is being displayed this season (April-October) at area Pow-wows and is available for $2,100.00 plus shipping.

This is a One of a Kind bag. You'll be proud to display or use.