Turquoise/Native American jewelry

[Yamahana]

New to me hat band (excuse the dusty hat).

That is a dandy! Any hat would be proud to wear that!

 

[BobHufford]

That is a dandy! Any hat would be proud to wear that!

Thanks Yamahana!

 

[alanfgag]

Thanks Alan! Unfortunately it ended up being a bit short. Thinking of taking up the slack with three silver bench beads. Or move it along.

And mine is a little long. I have to watch bending over to pick up coins!

 

[alanfgag]

Wearing this modernist naja and bench bead necklace today. It is one of my favorite pieces - stamped with the rare "U.S. Navajo" mark that dates the work to 1939-1943. The trading post number 70 was connected with the Navajo Arts and Crafts Guild which is said to have its beginnings in 1941. Some additional information below.

The United States Bureau of Indian Affairs under the Department of the Interior attempted to encourage and protect the production high quality Native American handmade jewelry with an identification program beginning in 1939 and quietly ending in 1943. Many of the important Indian Trading Posts and the Indian Schools were given hallmarks which were applied to individual pieces of jewelry. U.S. Navajo 70 was assigned to the young Navajo Arts and Crafts Guild at Fort Wingate, NM.

In 1939, after more than two decades of unfair competition from cheap, imitation machine-made “Indian” jewelry, harmful to Native American craftsmen and the economy in Indian Country, the Indian Arts and Crafts Board (IACB) of the US Department of the Interior launched a short-lived government hallmark stamp program to combat imitation jewelry in the market place and inspire confidence in authentic Native American jewelry. The IACB stamp was restricted to 100% Native American hand-made silver objects, excluding certain designs not traditional to Native America (ashtrays, candlesticks, etc.,) meant for the tourist trade only.

The IACB program was supported by United Indian Traders Association (UITA), but also criticized by the association. It was felt that the program was limited in execution, lacked breadth of coverage and was unable to keep pace with stamping needs of an industry scattered across a large Southwestern territory with just three official government representatives examining and stamping jewelry. (Silversmith Ambrose Roanhorse hand made all the stamps for IACB program and it is believed that he inspected and stamped many if not all of the several thousand works that were marked during the four years of the program). As well, many traders believed that the IACB hallmark program’s prohibition against use of important time-saving tools such as rolling mills and buffers was too restrictive.

 

[alanfgag]

antique tufa cast bracelet

 

[Sheepdog149]

hand-carved cue feather pendant-necklace[emoji4][emoji108]

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[Yamahana]

Navajo copper gaspeite

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[Yamahana]

Navajo malachite

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[Horn Draoi]

Navajo malachite

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[Horn Draoi]

Beautiful cuff! I need some help- I want to donate a bolo/buckle/ring set to an educational non-profit (Texas Botanical Gardens) for their upcoming fund raising auction. Does anyone know what the hallmark “DDC” might indicate?

 

[alanfgag]

Beautiful cuff! I need some help- I want to donate a bolo/buckle/ring set to an educational non-profit (Texas Botanical Gardens) for their upcoming fund raising auction. Does anyone know what the hallmark “DDC” might indicate?

Pictures might help to research.

 

[alanfgag]

Beautiful cuff! I need some help- I want to donate a bolo/buckle/ring set to an educational non-profit (Texas Botanical Gardens) for their upcoming fund raising auction. Does anyone know what the hallmark “DDC” might indicate?

According to Barton Wright, Zuni silversmiths Dickie and Darlene Charlie used a hallmark D/DC. Their pieces would be silver and lapidary work.

 

[alanfgag]

Mid century modern cuff from the Navajo Arts and Crafts Guild.

 

[alanfgag]

Smuttynose + Mark Chee

 

[fiftyforfifty]

View attachment 181831

Smuttynose + Mark Chee

Very Smart and stylish cuff

 

[Sheepdog149]

Royston turquoise ring by Delbert Gordon, Navajo Silversmith:

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[Sheepdog149]

Hand-carved Nacozari turquoise pendant:

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[alanfgag]

A necklace of ancient Chumash stone beads, collected on the Channel Islands, California.

 

[alanfgag]

Monday Navajo silver and turquoise... the ring is a No.8 mine stone, the bracelet, unknown.

 

[handymike]

A necklace of ancient Chumash stone beads, collected on the Channel Islands, California.

View attachment 188188

OMG that is awesome!