Tom McNeely (Canadian, B. 1935) "Assiniboine Indian Headdresses" Signed lower right. Mixed Media on Paper. Provenance: Collection of James A. Helzer (1946-2008), Founder of Unicover Corporation. This painting was originally published on the Fleetwood First Day Cover for the U.S. 25c Assiniboine Headdress stamp issued August 17, 1990. The showy, elaborate headdress, as in all Assiniboine clothing, reflected the tribe's taste for the beautiful and colorful. Materials obtained in trade were used in their clothing, with such items as their headdresses containing wool, brass tacks, beads, felt and other cloth. The headdresses also contained items of the land -- eagle feathers and ermine. Early travelers into the northern plains of the Assiniboine were immensely impressed by the tribe. George Catlin, an artist who traveled the area in 1832, noted of the Assiniboine that they "are undoubtedly the finest-looking, best-equipped, and most beautifully costumed of any on the Continent ...." Living in the rolling, open prairie of Saskatchewan and Manitoba Canada the Assiniboine were influenced early on by British traders of the Hudson Bay Company. The Cree Indians to the north were close allies of the Assiniboine and acted as "go-betweens" with their southern neighbors and the British of the Far North. At one time, it was reported that the Assiniboine traded and hunted from Montana to the Arctic Circle and from the Rockies to James Bay in the early 1800s. Like many Indian tribes, the white man's diseases, not bullets, brought down the Assiniboine by the thousands. But throughout their time of destruction, the proud Assiniboine kept their legendary composure and cleanliness, even though more than four thousand of their people died during the late 1830s. Today, the Assiniboine occupy a small area of Montana north of the Missouri River. Image Size: 26.75 x 21.5 in. Overall Size: 27.5 x 22.25 in. Unframed. (B12299)