[Dress] The maker lavishly decorated this dress with replicas of elk teeth. Because only the elk's two upper canines were used, they were rare and costly. Only a good hunter could acquire a large number. When real teeth were unavailable, the Crow skillfully carved substitutes like the ones on this dress.

Because elk teeth symbolized love and long life for the Crow, they often presented them (or replicas) as gifts when children were born.

Courtesy of the National Museum of the American Indian

Child's Dress, Crow people, Montana, about 1875, wool cloth, bone, and animal hide

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