Producer unknown to us
Leather pouch
Americas, United States
19th/20th century
Leather, tinplate, beadwork
Collector and acquisition context unknown to us
Handover to Museum für Völkerkunde Dresden by Museum Burg Kriebstein in 1974
59763
This small leather pouch has white, blue, yellow, and red glass beads embroidered in geometric patterns on the front side. The hem of the cover flap and the bottom of the pouch are trimmed with leather fringes edged with bent tinplate cones. These cones were made from the lids of chewing tobacco cans. Due to the high demand for this craft, more lids than cans were produced until the late 20th century.
The item came to Dresden in 1974 as part of the GDR’s museum consolidation campaign. Originally part of the Museum Burg Kriebstein collection, it was brought to Hohenstein-Ernstthal in the 1950s. There, some of the objects temporarily came into the possession of a local group of Hobby Indians until the Dresden museum, with the help of further state offices, brought them to Dresden and Radebeul in 1974. Missing documents make further research on the origin of the object impossible for the time being.
Frank Usbeck