Belt Buckle

Artist Mitchell Zephier (Sioux, born 1950)

CultureSioux (Central Plains), South Dakota

Datelate 1970s - 1989

MediumCatlinite, turquoise, shell, jet, mother of pearl, and trade silver

DimensionsOverall: 3 × 4 1/8 × 3/4 inches (7.62 × 10.48 × 1.91 cm)

Credit LineGift of Ralph T. Coe Center for the Arts, 2025

Object number2025.56.49

Inscribed"PVH" on back of buckle, written Mitchell Zephier 175.00

On View

Not on view

Terms

DescriptionOval belt buckle framed by pieces of turquoise, shell and jet with a central scene depicting a young Native American playing on a courting flute. There is a circular piece of mother of pearl depicting the moon in the "sky" above a tipi.Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Lost and Found Traditions: Native American Art, 1965–1985, Organized by the American Federation of Arts, American Museum of Natural History, New York City, June 6–October 5, 1986.

Provenance

Purchased from the Sioux Trading Post, Rapid City, SD by Ralph T. Coe (1929-2010), late 1970s-1990;

His bequest to the Ralph T. Coe Center for the Arts, Santa Fe, NM, 2010-2025;

The Coe Center's gift to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2025.

Published References

Coe, Ralph T., Lost and Found Traditions: Native American Art, 1965–1985, Seattle, WA, University of Washington Press, 1988), 131, no. 143.

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