Original or reproduction Plains Indian breastplates.

“Breastplate” is a warior's breast or perhaps neck ornament of long tubes (called “hairpipes”) and various beads (metal, shell or glass), divided by thick leather spacers in a number of sections hanging down over torso. Breastplates were worn on occasion in battle to prevent injury by a bullet or an arrow, so mainly breastplates were decorative or medicinal. The top of the breastplate is tied around the neck with leather thongs, and secured around the waist at the bottom. Hairpipes were difficult and expensive to obtain long ago and today as well, the number of bones often indicates the wealth of the warrior who wore it.