What Constitutes Real Navajo Jewelry?

Turquoise is native to the Southwest and is found in deserts.

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The Navajo originated in the southwestern part of what is now the United States, and were well-known for their craftsmanship when it came to jewelry. Specifically, the Navajo worked with sterling silver and turquoise, but incorporated other precious stones and metals into their art. If you are studying Navajo jewelry or are interested in purchasing some, familiarize yourself with the characteristics that constitute real Navajo jewelry so that you are not fooled by imitations or fakes.

Related Searches: Hallmark

Navajos used hallmarks, or symbols, to identify their jewelry after they made it. Hallmarks are like tags that authenticate the jewelry, but they are unique to the individual artist. Each Navajo jeweler had his own hallmark that he would stamp into sterling silver. If you locate a piece of Navajo jewelry, inspect the item for a hallmark, such as a symbol, initial or picture that lets you know who the artist is.

Scratch Test

The Navajo did not use imitation turquoise or other fake stones in their jewelry. Rather, real Navajo jewelry is characterized by jewelry that contains all authentic stones. One way to check if turquoise is genuine or fake is to scratch the surface of the stone with a fingernail. If you can scrape off the turquoise color, revealing white underneath it, the stone is a fake. Genuine turquoise maintains its color all the way through the stone.

Style

The jewelry of the Navajo people had a particular style that made the jewelry pieces identifiable. Squash blossom necklaces embody this style. A squash blossom necklace is a large, ornate necklace that combines silver with turquoise, and has a center pendant that takes on a crescent shape, like a squash blossom. Another Navajo jewelry tradition is metal stamping, a technique in which sterling silver or copper was stamped with a template shape and a hammer-like tool to indent the metal, creating an image or symbol. Metal stamping is different from hallmarks, as metal stamping is decorative and is often used to create patterns, such as zigzags or braided shapes. Hallmarks, on the other hand, stand alone and are not part of a pattern.

File Decoration

The Navajo created and decorated metal jewelry using a file decoration technique in which the metal was chiseled with small, intricate tools to make fine details in the jewelry. It was also common for each piece of Navajo jewelry to look a little different from the next. Each item was crafted individually, so the file decoration for each would not look identical.

Related SearchesReferencesMeredith College: Navajo JewelryResourcesHallmarks of the Southwest; Barton WrightPhoto Credit Hemera Technologies/PhotoObjects.net/Getty ImagesRead Next:

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