The bottom-most layer is tan in color, and appears to be linen or cotton; this is covered by a layer of black wool. The black wool is trimmed with a thin strip of black material, which may be silk – the fiber in the trim has a distinctly different formation than that of the black base layer. On the upper piece of the base and on the strap is a layer of beadwork. The beads are glass. The background beading is a cream color, and the base of the bag is made up of leaf-like patterns, each group composed of a two-color scheme: yellow and black, and blue and red. The strap has the same background and motif, but employs a different color scheme: red, blue, and black; and black, aqua, and orange.

body and strap are two separate pieces, both beaded using a loom technique; spot stitching of smaller bead clusters; tassels attached at bottom of the body

geometrical leaf pattern repeated across body and strap

The design appears to be a geometric representation of leaves, but is rather abstract and unnatural in appearance. The use of geometric designs is characteristic of Hochunk bandolier bags, and despite a lack of obvious embedded meaning in some of the least realistic images, these often have a deeper cosmological significance. This particular motif may reflect a native interpretation of the popular western floral imagery of the period.

Bandolier bags are a type of personal ornamentation, and this particular bag does not have a functional pocket, so was likely used for purely decorative purposes, perhaps in a ceremonial context. Bandolier bags were sometimes given as gifts to other individuals within a tribe or as a political/diplomatic gift.

This the date estimated by the museum, and is supported by the existence of similar items from the same time period.