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Despite their inherent love of ornamentation and jewelry,
the Indians of the Southwest did not learn to work with silver until
the latter part of the 19th century. Before that they acquired the few
silver ornaments they owned through trade with Hispanic settlers and
neighboring Plains Indians. The Plains people had acquired their silver
in trade with English, French and American trappers.
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One of the first native metalsmiths was a Navajo known as Atsidi Sani
who learned, around 1850, to form black metal from a Mexican blacksmith
living in the New Mexico territory. In 1853, Indian agent
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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 smiths at work and refine his primitive metalworking
skills.
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Atsidi Sani taught his four sons to craft silver 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 Navajos learned to cast silver in sandstone or tufa as
well as produce hand-hammered work. Turquoise, a traditional favorite
of the Navajos, began to be combined with silverwork in the 1880s.
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J.L. Hubbell capitalized on its popularity by importing Persian turquoise
for trade to the Navajos. Eventually, the local supply of turquoise
increased as more mines were opened.
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Originally, Navajos made silver jewelry for themselves or for other
Indians. After 1900, they began to create jewelry for commercial consumption
as well. The availability of turquoise and silver, together with better
silver working tools, enabled craftsmen 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 commercialization. Although silversmithing had
been practiced only by men, Navajo women had begun working the metal
by 1918.
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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 sheet and wire.
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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 smith 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.
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Early Zuni pieces were plain, hand-wrought silver occasionally decorated
with simple die-stamping or rocker engraving. Around 1890 they began
to include turquoise in their work, as had their Navajo neighbors. Until
about 1920, the Zuni fashioned jewelry primarily for themselves and
other native peoples. By 1930, the Zuni were creating much of their
jewelry for tourists. Within ten years, jewelry making had become a
major source or revenue.
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The emphasis on small stone work and inlay work began to emerge in the
1920s, developing partly from a revival of prehistoric designs. Today,
this style of jewelry, needlepoint, petit point, and inlay is most strongly
associated with the Zuni jewelry making tradition.
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Hopi silverwork is of a more recent vintage than Navajo or Zuni. Early
Hopi jewelry was made from natural materials, turquoise, shell, wood,
and seeds. Silver working was introduced to the Hopi around 1890 when
the Zuni smith Lanyard began to trade some of his silver jewelry among
the Hopi, apparently in return for hand-woven native cotton textiles.
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Lanyade eventually taught his craft to a Hopi named Sikyatala. Early
handwrought silver beads, rings, and bracelets made by the Hopi are
virtually indistinguishable from those made by Zuni and Navajo smiths.
Some Hopi created cast silverwork, as well. But it was not until the
1930s that a distinctive Hopi style emerged, and it developed only with
non-native encouragement.
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In 1938 Dr. Harold Colton and his wife Mary Russell Colton of the Museum
of Northern Arizona initiated a project encouraging Hopi silversmiths
to create a unique type of jewelry that would be instantly recognized
as Hopi.
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The result, silver overlay, is today the most widely recognized type
of Hopi silverwork. Using designs drawn from traditional pottery, textiles
and baskets, Hopi smiths soldered together two sheets of silver after
cutting out designs in the top layer so that the under layer is visible.
The under layer is blackened or oxidized and usually textured with chisel
marks or stamp work. Turquoise, coral, and other materials occasionally
have been set in Hopi overlay jewelry, but for the most part, the elegant
silver overlay has stood alone.
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Through the 20th century, Southwestern Indian jewelry gradually diverged
into clearly recognizable styles associated with Navajo, Zuni, Hopi
and Rio Grande pueblos. Today, these distinctions have again begun to
blur as native artisans, inspired by pioneering artists like Charles
Loloma, James Little, Lee Yazzie and Preston Monongye, redefine the
tradition and move toward a contemporary, more universal style of 'new
Indian' jewelry.
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