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A Field Guide to Southwest Jewelry · by Mateo James

Gold in Southwest Jewelry: Loloma, Many Farms, and the 1960s Gold Movement

← Field Guide

Gold did not enter the Southwest jewelry tradition until the late 1950s, when a small group of artists led by Hopi silversmith Charles Loloma began working with gold and precious stones alongside — and sometimes instead of — silver. Before that, Southwest Indian jewelry meant silver. The shift was deliberate, artistically motivated, and controversial: some critics felt gold was "not Indian enough." By 1968, gold pieces had been entered in competitive Indian shows in Arizona and New Mexico, and were well received. Today fourteen-karat gold is the established standard for gold work in Southwest jewelry.

Mateo's Field Notes

Bedinger's account is the primary corpus record of gold's entry into Southwest silversmithing. She traces the movement precisely: "In the late 1950s Hopi Charles Loloma began to use gold and precious stones. Formal study in the eastern United States and exposure to white man's jewelry combined to lead this creative and versatile craftsman into untraditional paths. He was followed by another Hopi, Preston Monongye; a Zuni, Eddie Beyuka; Kenneth Begay, teacher at the Navajo Community College, Many Farms, Arizona; and the Plateros, a large Navajo family of smiths." (Bedinger 1973, ~p. 151)

The 1968 competitive shows are documented as the inflection point: "In 1968, these metalworkers entered solid gold pieces in the annual competitive Indian shows in Arizona and New Mexico. Gold was so well received that now buckles, necklaces, rings, and even flatware and figurines of 14 karat gold are seen." (Bedinger 1973, ~p. 151) The transition from experiment to acceptance took roughly a decade — from Loloma's late-1950s exploration to the 1968 shows establishing gold as a recognized medium.

The early working method was improvised. "At first, 10, 14, 16, and 24 karat gold together with the backs of old watches were all melted together." (Bedinger 1973, ~p. 151) By Bedinger's writing in the early 1970s, fourteen karat had become the exclusive standard: "Today only 14 karat gold is used." Smiths buy sheet gold or ingots and work them by the same techniques used for silver — but gold is harder, more difficult to form, and demands more valuable stone settings to match its material weight. Gold plating was not done by Indian smiths in this period; requests for plating were taken to commercial shops. (Bedinger 1973, ~p. 151, citing Monongye 1972:10)

Hougart documents the pattern across multiple artists. Michael Kabotie (Lomawywesa), Hopi (1942–2009): "Active 1960s–2009. Overlay; cast work; silver, gold; stone sets." Nathan Fred Jr., Hopi: "Active since 1960s. Overlay; cast work; silver, gold." Tom H. Begay, Navajo: "Silver with gold jewelry; cast work." The overlay technique adapted to gold by Hopi artists represents one of the clearest examples of a traditional technique extended into a new material. (Hougart 5e, various entries)

Kenneth Begay's role is documented by Bedinger as a teacher at Many Farms — the Navajo Community College location — placing gold experimentation within the academic program he taught. The Platero family is named collectively as adopters of gold work; the corpus does not specify which Platero members are meant. The corpus does not document the "gold movement" as a named movement, only as a sequence of individual artists whose choices aligned.

Collector's Handbook

  • Fourteen karat as the standard. Southwest Indian gold jewelry from the post-1968 era is typically fourteen karat (.585 gold). A karat stamp on the piece — "14K," "585," or equivalent — is the collector's reference. Pieces marked differently (ten karat, eighteen karat) exist but are less common in this tradition.
  • Gold vs. gold-filled vs. gold-plated. The corpus is explicit: Indian smiths did not do gold plating in this period. A piece claimed to be Southwest Indian gold that proves to be gold-filled or gold-plated over base metal is not what the tradition produced. Request documentation and verify the karat stamp.
  • Gold and overlay. Hopi overlay artists — whose work in silver involves cutting and oxidizing two layers of silver — applied the same structural logic to gold. Gold overlay lacks the dramatic silver-to-black contrast of silver overlay, because gold does not oxidize visibly in the same way; the relief relationship between layers reads differently in gold than in silver.
  • The Loloma generation as authentication context. Gold Southwest jewelry predating 1958 would be exceptional and would require extraordinary provenance. The documented timeline places gold experimentation beginning with Loloma in the late 1950s and reaching mainstream acceptance after 1968.

In the Directory

Kenneth Begay (Diné — documented gold worker at Many Farms) · Charles Loloma (Hopi — pioneer of gold in Southwest jewelry) · Michael Kabotie Lomawywisa (Hopi)

Primary Sources

  • Bedinger, Margery. Indian Silver: Navajo and Pueblo Jewelers. University of New Mexico Press, 1973. ~p. 151. Citing Monongye 1972:10; Tanner February 1960:21–22.
  • Hougart, Bille. Native American and Southwestern Silver Hallmarks, 5th ed. (2022). Michael Kabotie Lomawywisa entry; Nathan Fred Jr. entry; Tom H. Begay entry.

Related Entries

Hopi Silver and Overlay · Hopi Overlay Technique · The Modernists · Charles Loloma