Tom McNeely (Canadian, B. 1935) "American Indian Headdresses/Comanche" Signed lower left. Original Watercolor. Provenance: Collection of James A. Helzer (1946-2008), Founder of Unicover Corporation. This painting was originally published on the Fleetwood Maximum Card for the U.S. 25c "Comanche" stamp issued August 17, 1990. Today, the headdress of the Comanche resembles that of the Sioux and other tribes of the northern plains. But long before the Comanche were placed on reservations where they adopted such garb, they had developed a very distinctive headdress all their own. This was the infamous horned headdress, made from the scalp of a buffalo bull with the horns still attached. Fierce Comanche warriors wearing such garb were a frightening sight to their enemies as they charged to battle upon their legendary horses. To the Comanche, the mighty buffalo bull was an animal with great stamina and power -- qualities which were necessary in war. The headdress might also contain a bit of hair from a favored horse because the Comanche, over all tribes, loved a good horse. Before horses were introduced into the New World by the Spanish, the Comanche lived in the Rocky Mountains and were actually an off-shoot of the Shoshone tribe. But the tribe changed radically after mastering the horse, moving down out of the high country and onto the flat, open southern plains in the waning years of the 17th C. Almost at once, the Comanche became expert horsemen and horse breeders. Even the average warrior often owned as many as two hundred-fifty horses and chiefs could own as many as fifteen hundred. To other Indian tribes, this was phenomenal; their individual chiefs would be lucky to own fifteen horses. Image Size: 13.25 x 25.25 in. Overall Size: 20.5 x 26.25 in. Unframed. (B12363)