Blackfeet Beaded Belt-RARE-From Mint Saloon-Great Falls, MT-Ted Byers Collection

Description

Blackfeet Beaded Belt-RARE-From Mint Saloon-Great Falls, MT-Ted Byers Collection. This is a significant piece of Central Montana Native American and Old West history.
From the Ted Byers collection
Ted Byers was one of the largest collectors of authentic Native American artifacts and Indian Wars items/ relics in the State of Montana. He metal detected and picked his way across Montana in the early 1900’s, also acquiring previous historic collections along the way. He was known by all of the serious collectors and passed away in 2017. I have sold numerous items from his estate and the process continues.
Ted Byers acquired many items from the famous Mint Saloon when it closed and sold off its famous CM Russell artwork and all the Native American artifacts which had been displayed since the late 1800’s. The provenance for this belt shows it’s origin from this collection. The fine beadwork and bead are very early.
In the mid-1890s, before Charlie Russell married Nancy, he often sold or traded his paintings to the saloons. A marketing genius, Nancy put a stop to this by promoting her husband’s works to art buyers and critics, so he could just focus on painting and sculpting his creations.
But for a time, a Russell painting could be had while you swigged your drink at the bar. Charlie Russell’s old haunt, the Mint Saloon in Great Falls, had a massive collection of his artwork he had traded for his saloon debts. The artist so often traded paintings for drinks that for many years, the Mint owned the largest collection of Russell art anywhere in Montana. Owner Sid Willis sold his saloon and Russell collection in 1945; Amon G. Carter of Fort Worth eventually bought the CMR collection in 1952 but local artifact collectors, including Ted Byers, bought the artifacts, guns,and Native American collections. Byers also later purchased Mint Saloon collections from some of the fellow collectors who bought items at time of Mint Saloon liquidation.