Coveted and Hard to Come By: The Native American Hair Piece

Native American's are known for their daily adornments, most, if not all, are made by fellow tribe members and given as gifts during certain ceremonies or celebrations. During celebratory activities adornments are ramped up a few levels and they wear their best and most treasured pieces, often stacking them one on the other. Many pieces have cultural significance and are sometimes directly related to the ceremony taking place, like this Holly Bracelet.

Everyday adornments are kept fairly simple with the hair piece being an ever present decoration. These pieces are functional art and are often passed down from generation to generation.

The Navajo hair piece pictured above is from the 1930s or previous, beautifully crafted, simple in design and traditionally constructed from a single piece os sterling.

This Rain Cloud design is also very old, and it's design speaks to Native American culture, their connection to the Earth and the importance of the Gods' willingness to provide them with much needed moisture. Again, this piece is artfully cut from a single sterling sheet.

This elongated Navajo piece is from the 1940s and incorporates an exaggerated twist in the pick elements and beautifully applied traditional stamping, with the featured stamps being done with a chisel. The tines are seperate from the headpiece and are beautifully soldered into place.

This very old Navajo piece is also elongated and has considerable age indications. The odd shaped stone is beautifully set and the hand stamping varies dramatically. The tines are seperate on this one as well, and in keeping with the primitive, early nature they're not as cleanly attached as the previous piece as the proper tools were not available at the time of it's construction

An important technique used in older Native American jewelry construction is “eyeballing” the stamp placement, the initial cut of the sterling with which the piece is to be made and stone positioning. This is one of my favorite attributes of handling Vintage and Old Pawn pieces and can easily be compared to musical improvisation.

Having these pieces in our collection is a real feather in our cap as they seldom leave the family of origin, and when they do, they more than likely remain within the tribe, as their personal nature is highly regarded. Most of these pieces were made specifically for a loved one or relative while considering their personal style or positioning within the tribal hierarchy.

JW Edgar--The Turquoise King of the Southwest

We've had an opportunity to acquire some superior pieces from the J.W. Edgar estate here in Albuquerque. Edgar was referred to as “The Turquoise King of the Southwest” during his 100 years, and on his passing his family has slowly started to offer pieces from his private collection. At one time Edgar owned close to 11 thousand acres of turquoise claims in Nevada, several of them producing much sought after, high grade stones. He sold much of what his mines produced to Indian Trading Posts throughout the Southwest with much of it ending up on the Native American pueblos of New Mexico.

Legendary silversmiths were regularly employed by Edgar to incorporate his best stones into special, one-of-a-kind pieces, many of which Edgar kept for himself, with many more being offered to important collectors, dignitaries and pop culture icons. Often pieces would return to Edgar in trade when someone wanted to either upgrade or have something designed especially for them. He was the “go-to guy” when you wanted the best available. RG Armstrong had this chip inlay watch bracelet custom made by one of Edgar's silversmiths, and later traded it for something else. With Armstrong's extensive stage, film and television presence, starting in the late 1930s and lasting beyond 2000, this is not only a highly desirable work of Native American art, but an important Hollywood collectable.

The acquisition of two, Old Navajo Pawn Bow Guards / Ketohs has been a real feather in our cap as far as adding to our museum worthy offerings. The stones and craftsmanship are completely "over the top" on both of them and we're very excited to add them to the Native Treasures collection. You can get a good look at them in the video, they're located in the Featured Pieces category on the website and include some extensive provenance in their descriptions.

As negotiations continue we're confident that additional pieces from this impressive estate will become available. We'll keep you posted!

Some Days Are Better Than Others

Over the years I've developed a respectable chain of suppliers, others that when they're in the field looking for specialty items for themselves, obtain items they think would be of interest to me. Sometimes this works out, and others not.

Some recent operative items include this set of carinated band Navajo bracelets. They're not super old, 1950s or so, but they're so wonderfully made, simple and classy, that I've made them my bracelets of choice.

This Vintage Mexican Link Bracelet done in the Taxco style, features superior construction and nicely inlaid pieces of Lapis.

Another Vintage Mexican Link Bracelet that can only be described as “chunky” features sizable jade stones. The piece is really striking. Probably 1940s and in amazing condition.

I've been acquiring a lot of Mexican jewelry as of late, and was pretty pleased when these were offered to me; 1930/40s Vintage Art Deco design handcrafted jade dangle earrings.

This ornate Taxco Cross Pendant has also recently been acquired—beautiful 1940s sterling work with a single lapis centerpiece.

This Old Navajo Pawn Cast Sterling Naja was really a nice addition to the collection with it's primitive hand stamping and the unusual Broken Bow mine turquoise stone.

I've been at this a while and had yet to see a piece of Navajo artisan work utilizing a jade stone, but this old pawn ring features a wonderful piece of jade. Native Americans had no natural source for jade and this stone had to be bought or traded for. Really Rare. It didn't last long...

I do pretty well on my own, manage to cover a lot of bases, but being everywhere at once in a Native American Jewelry hub just ain't gonna happen. I'm pretty lucky to have a group of associates that keep their eyes open for pieces to offer me, and I try and return the favor. Several of us have each other on “speed dial” for when a situation arises that demands immediate attention.

Acquisitions have been pretty slow since the beginning of the year and I was pleased to hear from an operative when he acquired this 1930s Navajo Pawn bolo tie. It's construction and design are unusual as the bolo tie genre was in it's infancy when it was created; the repousse elements, the raised edges created by hammering a mold into the back of the piece, are slightly misaligned, meaning the artisan “eye-balled” their positions. It's based on Navajo Concho Belt designs from that period. I was a little confused when I first viewed it and thought the sterling cast arrow elements had been purchased at some jewelry supply outlet, but further inspection proves them to be handcrafted by the artisan; they're slightly different in size and the stamping varies from arrow to arrow which would not be the case had they been manufactured. This is a great find and I'm hoping it's a sign of things to come in 2011. This piece will make some collector very happy. The images in the video are somewhat larger if you want a closer look.

Put the Focus on the Details

When considering the time involved in the creation of Native American Artisan Jewelry there are indications on vintage pieces, as well as pieces done by certain contemporary artisans, that time was of no consequence. This is most evident on pieces that were created by a Native American FOR a Native American.

Although Navajo sterling overlay is available, yet not very common, some early pieces really stand out in the sweat equity department. This vintage cuff bracelet by unknown artisan “Bluehorse” bears scrutiny. If you'll notice the top and bottom bands are a single, hand cut piece of sterling, but each of the triangle elements in the center two rows were individually placed; each is slightly different, the pattern doesn't match up exactly as Bluehorse didn't use a “jig” to create the floating triangles—each was cut by hand, eye-balling the shapes as they were cut. The bottom band with the triangle elements varies considerably as well. This sort of eye-to-hand coordination, barring the use of measurement tools, give these time intensive pieces character that is missing in many cases.

This set of Old Pawn Navajo sterling dangle earrings is one of the best examples of Native American craftsmanship currently in the collection. When I acquired them it was obvious they are completely hand made, from the ear wires to the sterling beads. What I didn't notice until I examined them closely, is that each of the wires that connect the elements is encased in a tiny sterling cylinder. How this was accomplished I can't venture a guess, but the detail on this small a scale is a testament to the unknown Navajo Artisan's dedication to creating a work of art with little to no consideration for the time required. The artistic content of the finished piece, even though the naked eye won't be privy to it, is all that was on the artisan's mind. The mind boggles at how those minuscule cylinders were created.

I avoided Zuni Chip inlay work for many years, as I had seen some pieces that were obviously thrown together; the stone chips have to be given considerable attention as per size and shape, as when chip inlay, or as it's sometimes called “tweezer inlay,” is created, it's like making a jig-saw puzzle with nothing to refer to as you place the chips into the recesses. A light came on a few years ago when I started seeing some chip inlay that had obviously been done with great care, again with little regard for the time involved. This buckle, featuring a Native American Thunderbird is a fantastic example of chip inlay and attention to design. The recesses on the wings come to a needle-thin point and the artisan managed to find the correct puzzle pieces to fill them, which was no small feat considering the size and shape of chips he had to locate, or in this case they may have been created for the task. Nevertheless, the tightness of the coral, turquoise and Mother of Pearl chips is impressive.

The Reeves family of the Navajo Nation, Gary, David and “Sunshine” are to be labeled as contemporary artisans as they are still producing fine Native American jewelry and have been doing so for decades. Something sets them apart though. They are old-school artisans that work mostly in sterling, using few stones while dedicating themselves to producing time-intensive work. This has served them well as their pieces are collectable and exquisitely crafted. This sterling Navajo belt buckle by Gary Reeves is a prime example of putting the outcome of your efforts in the forefront and ignoring the time required to achieve your goal. The sterling work on this buckle is all done with a hammer and a chisel, the coiled wire accent was hand-twisted and the use of stamping is limited to the single peyote button in the center of the buckle. It doesn't stop there—the tongue and belt attachment bar are also artfully crafted and done using Old Pawn techniques.

At Native Treasures we carry a full line of Native American jewelry, with the focus being on vintage artisan works of high quality. When acquiring pieces for the website the details are all important and warrant considerable investment when the piece shows the undeniable signs of dedication, talent and a desire to reach the design goal. When an artisan pursues their vision with such tenacity, the results are often astounding. This Unique American Art Form will live on as a testament to a people that have survived adversity and continue to express their connection to the Earth through their art.