Indian Silver Jewelry Biography
Source(google.com.pk)No traveler in the Southwest can ignore the abundance of gorgeous silver and turquoise jewelry available at every turn. It has become such an established part of regional experience that many visitors are surprised to learn it is not an ancient, indigenous tradition. Silversmithing was introduced to the Navajo and then the Pueblo tribes barely 150 years ago. The truly remarkable aspect of Native American jewelry, however, is the speed and dexterity with which Native artisans adapted many different cultural and technical influences to create an artistic tradition that’s truly their own.
Native tribes of the American Southwest had no history of working metal before the arrival of Europeans. They fashioned their most prized personal adornments from stone – especially turquoise- and seashells, both of which were acquired through intertribal trade. When the Spanish introduced silver ornaments, (as well as copper, brass, bronze and iron) these exotic items became highly prized in Native communities.
Despite the trade in metal wares, metal smithing did not cross the cultural divide until the mid-19th century, more than 250 years after the arrival of Spanish settlers. Navajos were the first to take up metalwork, learning the craft of blacksmithing from Hispanic smiths in the villages of northwestern New Mexico, perhaps as early as the 1840s. By the late 1860s, several of these craftsmen had applied their blacksmithing tools and skills to the production of silver jewelry. This curious fact – that Native silverwork arose not from Spanish silversmithing but from working iron – would shape Indian jewelry design and technology for decades to come.
Silver craft spread quickly among the Navajo smiths, Atsidi Chon (Ugly Smith), went to Zuni Pueblo in 1872 to make and sell silver ornaments and while there he taught a Zuni blacksmith named Lanyade how to work the white metal. Lanyade, in turn, went to Hopi in the 1880s where he taught the craft to a First Mesa resident named Sikyatala. A few men at Acoma and Laguna had taken up silversmithing by the late 1870s, and in 1879 two of the Laguna smiths had relocated to Isleta Pueblo, initiating the craft along the Rio Grande.
Despite their inherent love of ornamentation and jewelry, the Indians of the Southwest did not learn to Silversmith until the latter part of the 19th century.
Before that they acquired the few Silver ornaments they owned through trade with Hispanic settlers and neighbouring Plains Indians. The Plains people had acquired their Silver in trade with English, French and American Trappers. The photo above is of Navajo Mountain located in the west-central part of the Navajo Nation.
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One of the first Native American Indian metal smiths was a Navajo known as Atsidi Sani who learned to form black metal from a Mexican blacksmith living in the New Mexico territory, about 1850. About 1865, Atisi was introduced to Silversmithing and thus Navajo Silversmithing began. -
Henry Dodge moved to a house near Fort Defiance and married a Navajo woman. Dodge brought with him a blacksmith and a Mexican Silversmith. Years later, after the Navajos were released from their five-year confinement at Fort Sumner, (Bosque Redondo), Atsidi Sani came to the Indian agency to observe the two Silversmiths at work and refine his primitive Navajo Silver skills.
Atsidi Sani taught his four sons to become Navajo Silversmiths and they, in turn, taught others. Later, in the 1880s, J.L. Hubbell hired several Mexican Silversmiths to teach the craft to Navajos at his Trading Post in Ganado, Arizona. The Navajo Silversmiths learned to cast Silver in sandstone or tufa as well as produce hand-hammered work.
Above is a photo of Hubbel Trading Post from the early 1900's. To the right is an example of a Navajo Silver sandcast bracelet.
Turquoise, a traditional favourite of the Navajos, began to be combined with Silver work in the 1880s. J.L. Hubbell capitalized on its popularity by importing Persian Turquoise for trade to the Navajos and to be incorporated into Navajo Silver. Eventually, the local supply of Turquoise increased as more mines were opened in America. The photo below on the left is another example of a sandcasted piece made by a Navajo Silversmith and the piece on the bottom right is a hand hammered concho, also made by a Navajo Silversmith.
Jewelry for commercial consumption as well which was promoted by anglo Indian Traders. The availability of Turquoise and Silver, together with better Silver working tools, enabled the Navajo Silversmiths to supply the growing market among Indian Traders and Tourists who were arriving in droves by railroad to visit the Southwest. The entry of women into the craft was another measure of its rapid commercialisation. Although Navajo Silversmithing had been practiced only by men, Navajo women had begun working the metal by 1918 and began to make beautiful Native American Turquoise Jewelry as well.
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American coins were the primary source of Silver for Jewelry until 1890, after which defacing a U.S. coin was outlawed. Mexican pesos were substituted until 1930 when their export to the American Southwest was forbidden. Sterling Silver ingots with a slightly purer Silver content replaced the coins. In the 1930s, sterling Silver in convenient sheets and wire forms became increasingly available from Indian Traders. Today, the majority of Indian jewelry is still made using Sterling Silver sheet and wire.
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Zuni History - Metalworking had a different history among the Zuni. In about 1830, the Zuni learned to work with copper and brass salvaged from old kettles. They did not begin Silver crafting until four decades later. Around 1872, the Navajo Silversmith Atsidi Chon, who traded frequently with the Zuni for livestock, taught a Zuni blacksmith named Lanyade the skill of Silversmithing. Much of the earliest Zuni Silver jewelry was essentially identical to Navajo work. - See more at: http://www.durangosilver.com/navajosilversmithhist.htm#sthash.AqmiJjAN.dpuf
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