History of Navajo Silversmiths

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Atsidi Sani (Old Smith in English), was the first known Navajo silversmith. While some native american tribes have worked with turquoise for millennia, sterling silver and turquoise jewelry is a relatively recent trade. The Indians of the Southwest did not learn to work with silver until the latter part of the 19th century.

Navajo necklacesAtsidi Sani learned, around 1850, to form black metal from a Mexican blacksmith living in the New Mexico Territory.

In 1853, Indian agent Henry Dodge moved to a house near Fort Defiance and married a Navajo woman. Dodge brought with him a blacksmith and a Mexican silversmith.

Navajo earringsYears 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.

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.

Navajo braceletsJ.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.

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.

Navajo ringsThe 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.

The standard way of making Turquoise Jewelry is by starting with a stone, putting a bezel around the stone and then proceeding forward in sculpting the silver or gold to embellish the stone. 

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. Then 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.