Native Americans of the Southwest United States are famous for their jewelry, especially that made with silver and/or turquoise.
The postcard above (ca. 1932) shows a little Navajo girl and is titled "The Silversmith's Daughter." According to the description on the back of the card, her beautiful Indian jewelry made of coin silver and genuine turquoise stone has been lavished upon her by her silversmith father.
The postcards below are somewhat newer (ca. 1958-63). The first shows an Indian silversmith at work using primitive tools to make jewelry of coin silver and turquoise. The silver is heated and then hammered to suit his purpose.
Many examples of genuine Indian handmade jewelry are shown on the last two postcards.
The video below is long, but it is well-worth watching. It shows and describes the different styles of Native American silver jewelry that are associated with different tribes and gives a brief history of the jewelry.
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Interesting. It got me reading about Turquoise on Wikipedia.
ReplyDeleteBefore a trip to Sedona and the Grand Canyon, I had read online to watch out for people selling fake turquoise and fake Native American jewelry. All along the road were small groups selling jewelry, and I had to wonder if they were scamming people. Then I saw a billboard advertising Native American Jewelry just up the road and it said, "We're the nice ones." HA
ReplyDelete('not just saying......)They Really Are Beautifully Made & Crafted.
ReplyDeleteReally beautiful items and that little girl in the first picture is delightful.
ReplyDeleteSome of those pieces are so big, they must be pretty awkward to wear.
ReplyDeleteI love the turquoise color; reminds me too of my turquoise necklace which I haven't worn for many years.
ReplyDeleteLovely pieces. Makes me look at our turquoise brooch in a different light.
ReplyDeleteThe little girl does look lovely with all her jewelry. I used to have some turquoise earrings my father brought me from Mexico. Wonder where they went? That seems to be my theme this week - things that are now gone.
ReplyDeleteVery nice, and while I've been to Arizona and Mexico and New Mexico I have been lucky to see and buy much of it!
ReplyDeleteI could almost get into this postcard collecting business inspired by your posts . But do I need another obsession?
ReplyDeleteBeautiful gems and interesting video. I'd never seen it before or realized the Native Americans were so into jewelry. Although I remember buying Manhattan for some bling bling so I should have known I guess. These people were (are) real craftsmen, very impressive.
ReplyDeleteThat first little girl is most likely Navajo. I remember seeing a woman riding a horse dressed like this heading for a hogan. It was near Monument Valley and I was entranced to see what felt like history playing out before me. They do make incredible jewelry.
ReplyDeleteLovely cards.
Love those huge silver bracelets with turquoise in the video.
ReplyDeleteGreat postcards my dear,
as usual!!
:)~
HUGZ
I loved this. It got me thinking about early Australian aboriginal jewellery. I couldn't find anything indicating that they did make jewellery in the earlier years.
ReplyDelete