The allure of vintage Native American jewelry lies not only in its aesthetic beauty but also in the rich history and cultural significance woven into each piece. One fascinating aspect of this history is the resourcefulness of early Native American silversmiths, who, faced with limited access to raw materials, often turned to an unexpected source: Vintage Native American Jewelry Was Often Made From Melted Down Coins. This article delves into the intriguing practice of using melted coins in the creation of these treasured artifacts, exploring the types of silver used, the techniques employed, and the evolution of Native American jewelry making.
The Silver Spectrum: From Elemental to Coin
To understand the significance of coin silver, it’s essential to grasp the basics of silver purity. Pure silver, often referred to as elemental silver, is 99.9% silver. However, due to its softness, pure silver is rarely used in jewelry making. Instead, it’s typically alloyed with other metals to increase its durability. Sterling silver, a common standard, is 92.5% silver and 7.5% other metals, most often copper.
But what about coin silver? This term refers to silver alloys with a silver content of around 90%. In the United States, the coin silver standard was established in the 1820s, dictating that dimes, quarters, half dollars, and dollars were to be made of 90% silver and 10% copper. This standard remained in place until 1964, making these pre-1965 coins a readily available source of silver for Native American artisans. Vintage Native American Jewelry Was Often Made From Melted Down Coins, specifically these older coins.
The Dawn of Silverwork in the Southwest
Despite their long-standing appreciation for ornamentation and jewelry, the Indigenous peoples of the Southwest didn’t begin working with silver until the latter half of the 19th century. Prior to this, silver ornaments were acquired through trade with Hispanic settlers and neighboring Plains Indians. The Plains people, in turn, obtained their silver through trade with English, French, and American trappers.
A pivotal figure in the history of Native American silversmithing was a Navajo man named Atsidi Sani. Around 1850, Atsidi Sani learned basic metalworking skills from a Mexican blacksmith residing in the New Mexico Territory. This marked the beginning of a transformative era for Native American artistry.
Further advancements came in 1853 when Indian agent Henry Dodge established a residence near Fort Defiance. Dodge brought with him both a blacksmith and a Mexican silversmith. After the Navajos’ release from their five-year confinement at Fort Sumner (Bosque Redondo), Atsidi Sani seized the opportunity to observe these smiths at work, refining his nascent metalworking skills.
Atsidi Sani’s legacy extended beyond his own craft. He taught his four sons the art of silversmithing, and they, in turn, shared their knowledge with others. This created a ripple effect, spreading the craft throughout the Navajo community. In the 1880s, J.L. Hubbell, a prominent trader, further facilitated the dissemination of silversmithing skills by hiring Mexican silversmiths to teach Navajos at his trading post in Ganado, Arizona. The Navajos learned to cast silver using sandstone or tufa molds, alongside the traditional hand-hammered techniques.
The introduction of turquoise to silverwork in the 1880s added another dimension to Native American jewelry. Turquoise, a stone deeply revered by the Navajos, was incorporated into silver designs, creating pieces of profound beauty and cultural significance. J.L. Hubbell recognized the potential of this combination and imported Persian turquoise for trade, further fueling its popularity. As more turquoise mines opened, the local supply increased, solidifying turquoise as a cornerstone of Native American jewelry.
Coin Silver: A Resourceful Solution
The use of coin silver in Vintage Native American Jewelry Was Often Made From Melted Down Coins stemmed from the limited availability of raw silver. Pre-1965 U.S. silver coins became a readily accessible and practical alternative. While coin silver contains a slightly lower silver content than sterling silver (90% versus 92.5%), this difference doesn’t necessarily diminish the value or desirability of coin silver jewelry. In fact, the age and hand-hammered nature of many coin silver pieces often make them more valuable than those crafted from sterling silver.
Interestingly, vintage Mexican coins were also used, and these often had a higher silver content than U.S. coins. This made them softer and easier to hand-hammer, a quality highly valued by some of the early silversmiths. Some Mexican coin silver jewelry can even test as high as sterling silver in purity.
Early Native American craftsmen employed a variety of techniques to transform coins into jewelry. One method involved directly working with the coins themselves. Artisans would heat the coins in a fire pit or forge and then hammer them into the desired shape. Jewelry created using this method often bears faint residual impressions from the original coin design, adding to its unique character and historical charm.
Another common technique involved melting the coins down and pouring the molten metal into molds to create ingots (blocks or bars). These ingots were then hand-forged, or hammered, into the shape of a bracelet or other item. It’s important to note that some vintage ingots were "blends," containing a mixture of Mexican and U.S. coins, or even a combination of sterling silver and coins. This variability in composition explains the wide range of silver content found in vintage Native American jewelry.
The Evolution of Style and Purpose
Initially, Navajos primarily crafted silver jewelry for their own use or for trade with other Indigenous communities. However, after 1900, the creation of jewelry for commercial consumption began to gain momentum. The increased availability of turquoise and silver, coupled with the introduction of improved silver working tools, enabled craftsmen to meet the growing demand from Indian traders and tourists who flocked to the Southwest by railroad. The entry of women into the craft also marked its rapid commercialization. While silversmithing had traditionally been a male domain, Navajo women began working with metal around 1918.
American coins remained the primary source of silver for jewelry until 1890, when the defacing of U.S. currency was outlawed. Mexican pesos were then substituted until 1930, when their export to the American Southwest was prohibited. Sterling silver ingots, with a slightly higher silver content, then replaced the coins. By the 1930s, sterling silver in convenient sheets and wire forms became increasingly accessible through Indian traders. Today, the majority of Indian jewelry is still made using sheet and wire.
The Distinct Styles of Zuni and Hopi Jewelry
While the Navajo were pioneers in silversmithing, other tribes, such as the Zuni and Hopi, developed their own distinct styles and traditions.
The Zuni, for example, had a different trajectory in metalworking. Around 1830, they learned to work with copper and brass salvaged from old kettles. It wasn’t until four decades later that they began crafting with silver. In approximately 1872, a Navajo smith named Atsidi Chon taught a Zuni blacksmith named Lanyade the art of silversmithing. Early Zuni silver jewelry closely resembled Navajo work.
Early Zuni pieces were typically plain, hand-wrought silver, occasionally adorned with simple die-stamping or rocker engraving. Around 1890, they began incorporating turquoise into their work, following the example of their Navajo neighbors.
Until about 1920, the Zuni primarily created jewelry for themselves and other native peoples. By 1930, however, they were producing a significant portion of their jewelry for tourists. Within a decade, jewelry making had become a major source of revenue for the Zuni community.
The emphasis on small stone work and inlay work began to emerge in the 1920s, drawing inspiration from a revival of prehistoric designs. Today, this style of jewelry, characterized by needlepoint, petit point, and inlay, is most strongly associated with the Zuni jewelry-making tradition.
Hopi silverwork is of a more recent vintage than Navajo or Zuni. Early Hopi jewelry was made from natural materials like turquoise, shell, wood, and seeds. Silversmithing was introduced to the Hopi around 1890 when the Zuni smith Lanyade began trading his silver jewelry among the Hopi, likely in exchange for hand-woven native cotton textiles.
Lanyade eventually taught his craft to a Hopi named Sikyatala. Early hand-wrought silver beads, rings, and bracelets made by the Hopi are almost indistinguishable from those made by Zuni and Navajo smiths. Some Hopi also created cast silverwork. However, it wasn’t until the 1930s that a distinctive Hopi style emerged, and its development was largely due to non-native encouragement.
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 recognizable as Hopi.
The result, silver overlay, is now 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, revealing the under layer. The under layer is typically blackened or oxidized and often textured with chisel marks or stamp work. While turquoise, coral, and other materials are occasionally set in Hopi overlay jewelry, the elegant silver overlay often stands alone.
A Legacy of Innovation and Adaptation
Throughout the 20th century, Southwestern Indian jewelry gradually evolved into clearly recognizable styles associated with the Navajo, Zuni, Hopi, and Rio Grande pueblos.
Today, these distinctions have begun to blur once again 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.
The story of Vintage Native American Jewelry Was Often Made From Melted Down Coins is a testament to the ingenuity, resourcefulness, and artistic vision of Native American silversmiths. It highlights their ability to adapt to changing circumstances, transforming readily available materials into objects of enduring beauty and cultural significance. These pieces serve as tangible reminders of a rich history and a vibrant artistic tradition that continues to evolve.