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A Field Guide to Southwest Jewelry · by Mateo James

The Squash Blossom Necklace: History, Meaning, and Old Pawn Value

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The Squash Blossom Necklace: History, Meaning, and Old Pawn Value

The squash blossom necklace is a graduated silver bead necklace with a crescent centerpiece — the naja — and flanking petal-form beads whose English name was coined by Anglo traders, not by the Dine silversmiths who made them. Its components carry centuries of cross-cultural contact: Moorish Spain, Spanish contact, post-Long-Walk Dine silversmithing, and Zuni inlay elaboration. It remains one of the most studied and collected forms in Southwest jewelry.

Mateo's Field Notes

The name "squash blossom" tells you more about the traders who coined it than the artists who made the piece. In Dine (Navajo), the tri-petal bead is called yo ne maze disya gi — "bead that spreads out." There is no squash plant in the original language of the form. The flower shape was read as a squash blossom by Anglo observers; the artists themselves were working from a different reference entirely.

That reference was the pomegranate of Andalusia. The squash-blossom bead, Rosnek notes, "was copied from Mexican smiths, who modeled theirs on the shape of the pomegranate." The blossom form traveled: Moorish Spain to New Spain, then into the hands of Dine silversmiths after the return from Fort Sumner in 1868 — the moment when silverworking shifted from intermittent craft to livelihood. As the TSkies blog records, written by Dine writer Ungelbah Davila-Shivers: "Where prestige and wealth used to come from raiding, it now came from herding and trading. Silverworking became a very important part of this transition."

The naja at the center of every squash blossom traces its own route: Phoenician and Greek goddess religions, into Moorish Spain as a bridle ornament against the evil eye, then via the Conquistadors' ornamented horses into the Southwest. Dine elder Carmalie Denetclaw reframes it for the present: "The opening in the Naja could represent this belief to the original Dine Naja artist... The Naja on the squash blossom should be symbolic to the path of goodness." Her reading points the naja opening east, toward hozhon — harmony, balance, beauty — as understood in Dine cosmology.

Adair documented one of the most striking examples in the literature: a squash blossom necklace made by Slender Maker of Silver for Chee Dodge. "This string of beads is the only one that I have seen that has a row of blossoms facing inward as well as outward," Adair writes. "It is also unique in that it has two small najahe in addition to the large one at the bottom of the strand. These unique features testify to the originality of this smith." The lineage continued through Fred Peshlakai, Slender Maker of Silver's son, who carried the craft into the 20th century.

Zuni silversmiths elaborated the form further. Where Navajo versions traditionally ran in plain bench-bead silver, Zuni artists added turquoise inlay to the blossoms and naja "sometime in the nineteenth century," the TSkies blog records — blending Pueblo stone mastery into the Dine-originated form. The result: two distinct visual traditions wearing the same name, distinguishable by setting style and construction logic.

Construction on a traditional squash blossom begins with the bench beads — hollow round beads cusped from flat disc stock, matched halves ground smooth, punched with stringing holes, and soldered. The blossoms are built up from the bead body with applied petal elements. Everything is strung in coupled pairs, graded from small at the back to large at the front. On old pawn pieces, look for hand-ground turquoise, uneven bead matching, and the weight of ingot-gauge silver rather than sheet stock.

Dine elder Paulo Dineclah offers the closing frame: "We wear turquoise jewelry, diyiin dineh, to acknowledge and honor land, people, and show respectfulness to a good life."

Collector's Handbook: Squash Blossom Necklace

  • Era cues: Pre-1940 pieces show hand-hammered, unevenly matched bench beads; post-1950 production work uses uniform commercial beads. Old pawn pieces from trading post racks typically date 1880s–1940s.
  • Construction tells: Look at the back of the blossoms — handmade petals show file marks and slight asymmetry. Machine-stamped blossoms are perfectly uniform. Check the naja tips: earlier najas taper to a point; later ones take domed buttons or turquoise settings.
  • Stone quality: Pre-1940 turquoise was hand-ground on sandstone, producing softer edges and natural matrix patterns. Post-stabilization turquoise (common after 1960) has uniform color and harder surface.
  • Value context: Attribution to a documented smith matters significantly. A piece attributed to a known Dine or Zuni maker with provenance documentation commands substantially more than unattributed work of similar age and condition.
  • Navajo vs. Zuni: Navajo squash blossoms typically run in plain silver or with single-stone naja bezels. Zuni versions feature mosaic or channel inlay in the blossoms and naja — sometimes covering the entire surface with turquoise, coral, or shell work.
  • What to look for: Weight in hand (heavy is good), even patina on all surfaces including the back, matching stone color throughout the strand if set, and a naja that moves freely — not crimped from handling or storage.

Makers Known for This Form

  • Fred Peshlakai — Dine (Navajo); son of Slender Maker of Silver, documented in Adair as carrying the squash blossom lineage forward
  • Darryl Dean Begay — Dine (Navajo); works in the heavy-gauge Navajo tradition
  • Angela Cellicion — Zuni; known for inlay work applied to traditional forms
  • Rolanda Haloo — Zuni

Related Links

Browse squash blossom necklaces at T.Skies.

References

  • Adair, John. The Navajo and Pueblo Silversmiths. University of Oklahoma Press, 1944, pp. 33–34.
  • Rosnek, Carl, and Joseph Stacey. Skystone and Silver. 1976.
  • Davila-Shivers, Ungelbah. "The Naja." tskies.com/blogs/news/the-naja.
  • "The Evolution of a Squash Blossom Necklace." tskies.com/blogs/news/the-evolution-of-a-squash-blossom-necklace.

By Mateo James | T.Skies Co-Op Field Guide