from Hopi, Zuni Pueblo, Navajo Tribe, Isleta Pueblo, Santo Domingo Pueblo and other Native American Indian jewelry makers.
To search this site
for Native
American Indian jewelry makers, styles, stones, pueblos, or other criteria,
enter the search term in the Google field below,
make sure the radio button indicates your desire to search Native-JewelryLink.com
and click on the Google Search bar.
Page last updated
on
Shop with
us and save time (and gas.)
Return privileges guaranteed for 7 days
A word of caution:
Many purported "Native American" jewelry sellers are not offering real Native American Indian jewelry. They are frauds, and they deprive true Native American Indian artists of their heritage and livelihood. Every item offered on this site is guaranteed to be authentic Native American-made or your money back plus 10%. Thank you for supporting true Native American artistry and culture.To skip this essay and go directly to jewelry listings click this button
Business office located in Fort Myers, Florida at 15194 Harbour Isle Drive.
Questions: Call us at 239-482-7025 or 800-305-0185
A History of Native American Indian jewelry
Native American Indians have been creating jewelry for personal adornment and ceremonial celebration for generations. Some anthropologists trace the use of turquoise and tooled metal ornaments to pre-historical times in North America. But that is, as they say, "history."
As we are concerned primarily with the exquisite high fashion jewelry that is created by today's top Native American silversmiths, goldsmiths and lapidarists, we will concentrate on those aspects of this traditional art.
Silversmithing is generally believed to have emerged in Native American populations in the 1800s as Navajo Indian artists in particular began to practice it under the influence and tutelage of Spanish settlers. This activity, however, was preceded for centuries by the mining and shaping of gemstones such as turquoise and the harvesting of spiny oyster shell.
As a result, the Native American Indian turquoise and silver bracelet one buys today has a deep tradition of jewelry making behind it. Added in recent years have been raw materials such as coral, sugilite, lapis, opal, jet, malachite, mother of pearl, charoite and gaspeite. Sterling silver has largely replaced German silver, a nickel alloy. Gold has become more popular, although its increasing expense has limited the number of artists who willing to work with it.
Turquoise in American Indian jewelry
Turquoise clearly is the stone most directly identified with Native American Indian jewelry. Turquoise is used in several grades and types. The finest is rare, gem grade turquoise, which is the first choice for the finest Native American Indian turquoise jewelry. Below that are levels of high quality leading to "good" quality (often "stabilized"), good-to-average, mine run and stock (usually "stabilized") and low quality (almost always "stabilized"). Then there is fake or synthetic turquoise. This last level is used in low end, costume jewelry that emulates the real thing, even if created by Native American Indian artisans.
"Stabilized" turquoise is turquoise that is too soft and porous to be worked as a jewelry element. It is submerged in a stabilizing compound, such as epoxy resin, which permeates the natural turquoise and hardens it so that it can be shaped for jewelry use. "Treated" turquoise, on the other hand, is usually submerged in vegetable or animal oil for the specific purpose of giving it luster. Unfortunately, these oils can dissipate quickly, returning the stone to its original dull appearance and often staining skin and clothing.
Turquoise, the stone vs turquoise, the color.
The two should not be confused. The latter is associated with the most common coloration of the material. But the real turquoise used in Native American Indian jewelry comes in many color variations from soft pastel blue to deep green, and often with extensive matrix (the spider web patterns that suffuse the finest stones).
Other materials include coral, of which deep red is the rarest and most coveted - although delicate pink coral has grown in popularity, lapis lazuli from Asia, sugilite from southern Africa, charoite from Siberia and Gaspeite, originally from the Gaspe' Peninsula in Canada but also found Australia.
Pueblo jewelry styles.
Various Native American Indian tribes and pueblos are known for particular variations on jewelry design, although there is enough cross-pollination to eliminate hard and fast rules. Zuni Indians are known for very fine inlay and channel work. Navajo Indians are unsurpassed as silver workers. Hopi Indians have a unique variation called overlay, in which a layer of silver cut to express a pattern is soldered over a base sheet of silver. Santa Domingo Indian jewelry makers are particularly adept at heishi and shell overlay. Of course, bead work plays a major role in Indian jewelry from the Plains and Woodlands. While quite extraordinary at its best, it seldom appears in the high end work of the Southwest.
You
are now visiting the INTRO PAGE
for Native American Jewelry Link.
Click
here for 
Native
American Indian Jewelry Guarantee page and order form
Or call 800-305-0185
Bracelets
< Native American Begay Bracelets - Case#5A
Crosses
Necklaces
Pendants
Pins
Pin/Pendants
Rings
Visit
our friends and colleagues through our links page.
For more offerings of exquisite
Native American Indian jewelry
visit our associated site at
www.tribalworks.com
To find high-quality Native American fetish carvings, visit ZuniLink.
To find hand-made Native American pottery, visit Native-PotteryLink.
Book mark this site to revisit often as more pages of jewelry listings will be added shortly.
Copyright 2004, 2005, 2006 Aboriginals: Art of the First Person, a member of the IACA for 16 years.
