Fort Sill, Comanche County, Oklahoma, United States, North America
Notes:
FROM CARD: "CHIEF RAIN IN THE FACE. HAS BEADS AND BELLS."
This otter fur turban is not consistent with the associated information, which reports that it was obtained from Rain in the Face (Lakota) at Ft. Keogh. This appears to have been among the many errors in the list provided by the donor. The tribe of origin is unknown but the headdress is characteristic of the Southern Plains. An affiliation with the Kiowa or Comanche, from whom Bell collected other items, is most likely. It has several features that connect it with the Peyote religion of those tribes, including the beaded rosettes, mescal beans, and flicker feathers, which appear on peyote items collected by James Mooney around the same time that Bell was posted at Ft. Sill.