Some experiences should stay human.  —  A 501(c)(3) preserving authentic Native American + Southwestern silversmithing.
Co‑Op
A Field Guide to Southwest Jewelry · by Mateo James

First Phase Navajo Jewelry (1868–1900): The Earliest, Most Collected Period

← Field Guide

First phase Navajo jewelry 1868-1900 — the earliest, most collected period, T.Skies Southwest Jewelry Guide
Southwest Jewelry Field Guide — Collecting & Value

"First phase" is the term Larry Frank applied to the earliest era of Southwest Indian jewelry, beginning in 1868 with the Navajo return from Bosque Redondo. Its first period ran to about 1900: ingot-worked coin silver, file and rocker-engraved decoration, massive simple forms, and few or no stones. It is the most studied and most faked material in the field — which is why its construction tells matter.

Mateo's Field Notes

Frank built his dating framework around the phase idea: his study runs "from 1868, when the Navajos were restored to their homeland, to 1930, when tourist demand and mass production ended the innovative first phase of the craft." (Frank, front matter) Within it, the earliest bracket closes around the turn of the century — describing the spread of the craft to the Pueblos, he writes that "the first period (1868–1900) of first phase Southwestern silver jewelry ended" as Zuni and other Pueblo smiths established their own styles. (Frank, ~p. 8) Rosnek anchors the same starting point: the federal government "in June 1868 signed a treaty with the Navajos there, allowing them to return to their homeland." (Rosnek & Stacey 1976)

What the earliest work looks like. Frank reconstructs the technique sequence from dated museum collections: "The major decorative techniques developed in this order: filing, rocker-engraving, chisel-marking, repousse, stamping, and embossing" — while cautioning that "all of these techniques were in use within fifteen years after the return from Bosque Redondo." (Frank, ~p. 10) Silver was coin, worked from melted metal: prior to 1900 a smith had to "melt down several coins and cast them into an ingot, which he then hammered into a sheet and worked into a finished piece." (Frank, ~pp. 12–13) Stamping itself spread from about 1880 — Frank notes Plains stamped metalwork appears only "after the Navajos were using the technique, starting around 1880" (Frank, ~p. 20) — so a piece decorated by file and rocker-engraving alone sits plausibly in the earliest years, while dense stamping suggests 1880 or later.

Stones are rare guests. Soldering competent enough for bezels arrived in the 1880s, and "The first sets were usually small garnets" or turquoise beads (Frank, ~p. 15); Adair dates the first Navajo turquoise setting to about 1880, with quantities only after 1890. (Adair 1944, ~p. 13) First-period pieces are silver-first by necessity as well as taste. Forms ran to the personal and the horse: conchos — which Grey Moustache learned first among all forms (Adair 1944, ~pp. 4–5) — bridles, bracelets, najas, and plain bead strands. The diamond-slot concho and single-arm naja are first-period signatures.

Why collectors chase it — and why to be careful. The first phase is the tradition's root stock, thinly surviving and heavily imitated. Frank's own caveats are the collector's protection: coin silver proves nothing alone (fakers use it deliberately), and heavy simple work was still being made "thirty years after the lighter tourist-type jewelry came to dominate the commercial market," since the transitional phase lasted until 1930. (Frank, ~pp. 13, 21) A "first phase" attribution should rest on the convergence of ingot evidence, tool marks, wear, and form — never on style alone, and never on a story. The full era context sits in Origins of Navajo Silversmithing and Bosque Redondo and the First Smiths.

Collector's Handbook: First Phase Tells

  • Ingot evidence: hammer-worked metal with forging character, not uniform rolled sheet. Thickness varies; surfaces show the hand.
  • Early decoration: file work, rocker-engraving, and chisel marks read earliest; stamping enters around 1880. Elaborate die vocabularies are later.
  • Few or no stones: bezel-set stones before the 1880s are anachronisms; small garnets or modest turquoise fit the late first period; matched stone fields do not.
  • First-period forms: diamond-slot conchos, single-arm najas, plain heavy beads, bridle silver. Form, decoration, and stock must agree.
  • Distrust the label: "first phase" sells, so it gets applied loosely. Coin silver, heaviness, and simplicity were each still available to smiths — and fakers — long after 1900.
  • Provenance is king at this age: collection history and early photographs outweigh any single physical tell for pieces claimed before 1900.

References

  • Frank, Larry, with Millard J. Holbrook II. Indian Silver Jewelry of the Southwest, 1868–1930. Front matter (first phase defined, 1868–1930); ~p. 8 (first period 1868–1900); ~p. 10 (technique sequence); ~pp. 12–13 (ingot process; coin-silver caveat); ~p. 15 (bezels 1880s, garnet first sets); ~pp. 20–21 (stamping from c. 1880; transitional phase to 1930).
  • Adair, John. The Navajo and Pueblo Silversmiths. University of Oklahoma Press, 1944. ~p. 13 (turquoise c. 1880, quantity after 1890); ~pp. 4–5 (conchas among the first forms learned).
  • Rosnek, Carl, and Joseph Stacey. Skystone and Silver: The Collector's Book of Southwest Indian Jewelry. Prentice-Hall, 1976. (June 1868 treaty).

Related Entries

The history: Origins of Navajo Silversmithing · Bosque Redondo and the First Smiths · The First Turquoise Setting. Techniques: Ingot Work · File and Chisel Work. Dating: Dating by Construction. Era-documented pieces are at tskies.com →