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A Field Guide to Southwest Jewelry · by Mateo James

Etching and Engraving in Southwest Silver Jewelry

← Field Guide

Etching and engraving in Southwest silver jewelry appear in two distinct contexts: as decorative surface techniques — cutting or acid-working designs into the silver face — and as hallmark practices, where an artist's signature or mark is scratched, etched, or scribed into a finished piece. The corpus documents both uses, though the primary record is richer on engraving as tool use in the pre-stamp era than on etching as a named decorative style. Understanding the difference matters when evaluating marks and attributing work.

Mateo's Field Notes

The earliest documentation of engraving as surface decoration in Navajo silver comes from Washington Matthews at Fort Wingate (1880–81), via Adair: "the shanks serve as punches and the points as gravers, with which figures are engraved on the silver." (Adair 1944, ~p. 16, via Matthews) A graver is a hand-held cutting tool drawn across metal under controlled pressure; the result is an incised line, not a stamped impression. In the pre-stamp era, this was the primary means of putting a decorative line into silver. As commercial steel dies became available from traders in the 1870s and 1880s, stamping supplanted engraving as the dominant decorative method, simply because stamps were faster and more reproducible.

Hougart's hallmark documentation records engraving and etching as mark types rather than decorative techniques. The hallmark guide distinguishes: "A primary mark (stamped, etched or engraved) is considered to be... stamped, etched or engraved into an item, or included in the surface of silver as part of a casting." (Hougart, Bille. Native American and Southwestern Silver Hallmarks, 5th ed. (2022), ~p. 37) Within this framework, an etched mark and an engraved mark are both primary — they differ in method (acid vs. tool) but both qualify as a maker's documented signature.

Hougart documents several artists using etched or engraved marks specifically. Awa Tsirth (Alfonso Roybal, 1898–1955), noted as "an early pioneer in silversmithing," is documented in "stamp work; engraving." (Hougart 5e, ~p. 47) Raymond Becenti's mark is recorded as "Raymond Becenti (engraved script)" — a signature in engraved lettering rather than stamped initials. (Hougart 5e, ~p. 56) These are mark-making practices, not necessarily decorative techniques applied to the jewelry's front face.

Etching as a decorative technique — where acid is used to bite a pattern into the silver surface, producing matte recesses against a polished ground — is documented in the corpus primarily as a contemporary practice. The corpus does not provide a dated origin or named pioneer for decorative acid-etching in Southwest jewelry specifically. The hallmark record confirms the technique exists and is used; the artistic history within the corpus whitelist is thin on this point, and the page will not speculate beyond what the sources document.

Collector's Handbook

  • Etched marks vs. stamped marks. An etched mark shows irregular, slightly rough-edged letters or lines — the acid bites unevenly at the edges of a resist. A stamped mark has clean, sharp-edged impressions from the die face. A scribed or engraved mark shows continuous tool-drawn lines, often with varying depth. Knowing which type of mark is present on a piece affects how you read and date it.
  • Engraved script signatures. Some mid-century and later Navajo artists signed pieces in engraved script rather than stamped initials — a practice documented for artists like Raymond Becenti. These script marks are legible as names when the penmanship is clear; they are more difficult to fake consistently than a stamped die, because the hand-drawn line is individual.
  • Decorative etching vs. marking etching. When a collector encounters etching on a piece, it may be a decorative surface pattern on the face, a mark on the back, or a dealer's price/inventory code (Hougart documents inventory codes as "usually etched or marked"). Reading the context — location, scale, character of the etch — tells you which use is present.

In the Directory

The corpus does not document a roster of artists working primarily in decorative etching as a named technique. Artists documented by Hougart using engraved marks include those noted above. The following artists work in traditions that intersect with decorative surface work: Grey Moustache (Diné — pre-stamp graver era) · Atsidi Sani (Diné — founding era)

Primary Sources

  • Adair, John. The Navajo and Pueblo Silversmiths. University of Oklahoma Press, 1944. ~p. 16 (Matthews 1880–81 account of graving).
  • Hougart, Bille. Native American and Southwestern Silver Hallmarks, 5th ed. (2022). ~p. 37 (mark type definitions); ~p. 47 (Awa Tsirth / Alfonso Roybal); ~p. 56 (Raymond Becenti engraved script).

Related Entries

Stampwork · Die-Making and Stamps · File and Chisel Work · The Hallmark Story