Cherokee Deer Hide Coat Durable, supple, and nearly airtight, tanned deer hides made excellent clothing material. This knee-length coat, decorated with red buttons and fringe, dates from the first quarter of the nineteenth century and was still in the possession of Cherokees in Oklahoma in the 1930s. It very likely traveled to Oklahoma with its owner on the Trail of Tears in 1838. National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution (catalogue number 02/0353). Photo by David Heald.