There are four main Native American tribes that are known for the quality and style of their jewelry designs: the Navajo, Zuni, Hopi, and Santa Domingo. The Navajo traditionally make silver jewelry with large stamped silverwork and Sleeping Beauty turquoise stones in it. Navajo jewelry often includes leaf and feather designs in silver, with silver rope edgings and ball drops for decoration. The Zuni Indians are best known for their inlaid stone techniques and needlepoint and pettipoint styles of finely cut and matched stone works set into silver jewelry. The Hopi silver jewelry technique involves one of silver overlay with a layer of underlaid silver stamped with oxidized designs beneath it. Santa Domingo Indians usually make intricately cut heishi necklaces and earrings of mainly stone and shell without much silverwork.
Navajos and other Native American silversmiths and jewelers learned their jewelry-making skills from Mexicans in the middle to late 1800s, according to archaeological excavations. The earliest Native American Indian jewelry styles were made primarily with shell and stone, without the use of metals. Turquoise was the main stone of preference, due to its availability in the southwestern United States and its attractive color variations. For many Native Americans, turquoise has a spiritual meaning and is connected to the sky and water, and therefore Mother Earth. The Navajo people are also known as the “Dineh” people, or “people of the earth.” The first metals used in Navajo jewelry works were German or nickel silver acquired from the Spanish in Mexico. The Navajo first started working with silver around the 1850s.
There are many methods used for making Navajo jewelry, but some of the main methods in Navajo silversmithing include fabrication and casting. From those two main methods, additional metal forming and stamping techniques are incorporated in finely made and well-crafted Navajo Indian silver jewelry items. Jewelry fabrication techniques involve making jewelry from scratch using sheet metal and wire. Jewelry casting techniques involve using sand or other substances to create a molded design, and then pouring molten silver into the mold cast. When the hot liquid metal cools, the mold is broken, and the piece of jewelry removed from it. Other finishing techniques are completed, and stones often added to cast jewelry pieces.
Because of its beauty, durability, and close connection with traditional American culture, Navajo jewelry is highly prized and collectible. Individual pieces of artwork are created by authentic Indian craftspersons and silversmiths. It takes a great deal of time and care to design and create durable, beautiful objects that are wearable art. A piece of history or a story often accompanies each piece of individual jewelry. There are numerous books and publications that show and tell about individual Navajo artists. Purchasing Navajo jewelry for investment purposes is also popular. Older silver Navajo jewelry pieces from the 1970s and 1980s often contain much more silver than more modern pieces, due to the increased price of silver. Older Navajo jewelry also may contain types of turquoise that are rare, or from mines that no longer produce turquoise.
Well-known Navajo silversmith jewelry artists may choose to register and use their own special hallmark stamps on their jewelry. Historically, on older pieces of Native American jewelry, no hallmark stamps were used, since hallmarking an item designated it as being owned by a particular individual, a concept not shared by natives at that time. In modern times, however, most all Navajo silver jewelry items are hallmarked. Although fake hallmark stamps do exist, there are publications that specify hallmarks registered to and for specific Navajo silversmith artists. Other silversmiths also use hallmark stamps and common lettering. All Sterling silver jewelry should be stamped with a “925” or “Sterling” stamp, and in addition contain a hallmark stamp or symbol from the artist/silversmith.