Even at a glance

Even at a glance Even at a glance, the bear-claw necklace is striking, with its otter hide, grizzly claws, glass beads and brass buttons.

But for Anne Marie Shriver, a research associate with the Plains Indian Museum at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center, it's the artifact's age that gets her talking.

“For Plains Indian stuff, anything pre-1840s is really happy old,” she said. “Not much survived from that time, and there just weren't that many people around.”