Black dyed tab pouch

This tab bag, made by a native artist, is among the rarest of early Great Lakes Indigenous forms with less than twenty known examples identified by scholars. It derives its name from the tabs that make up the bottom portion of the bag. It features brightly colored patterns and figures composed of naturally dyed quills of red, yellow, blue, and white woven on buckskin dyed with iron and tannin to create the black-brown surface. Sewn together using wool thread and sinew, the bag's edges are wrapped in quills that are twisted with strands of indigo dyed wool. Anthropomorphic figures decorate each tab and the body of the bag features a traditional pattern of otter tracks and looping lines. On the opposite side, thee tabs feature keyhole shaped designs and a powerful thunderbird.

Often referred to as "belt pouches," tab bags like this were worn on the body, though it is unclear what they were intended to hold. The lower pouches were too narrow and impractical for the storage of powder and shot, and may have been used to hold tobacco in the manner of western pipe bags.