The bear and bear paw appear in Southwest jewelry in three documented forms: as one of the most common Hopi hallmark devices, as carved stone fetishes in Zuni work, and as bear-claw jewelry. The bear also carries real weight — the trade record itself notes that the Navajo regarded bears as sacred.
Some symbols carry sacred meaning within living traditions. We choose to respect that. This page is limited to what the jewelry-trade record documents and what artists themselves have shared publicly — nothing more.
Open the Hopi hallmark tables and the bear paw is everywhere. In Wright's Hopi Silver registry, the Bear Paw appears as the mark of smith after smith — Ricky Coochwytewa, Marcus Coochwykvia, Philbert and Lambert Poseyesva, Gary Masawytewa, Ila Lomawaima, Orville Talayumptewa, Gerald Honwytewa, Andrew Saufkie, and the Humeyestewa brothers among them — because among Hopi silversmiths a hallmark is often a clan symbol, and smiths of the Bear Clan, from villages like Mishongnovi and Shungopavi, sign with the paw. Rosnek and Stacey's informant put it simply: "A bear paw might signify membership in the bear clan." (WRIGHT ~lines 6187–8929; ROSNEK ~lines 43894–43898)
Hougart's hallmark record widens the circle. Watson Honanie marks with a bear paw carrying a Hopi friendship symbol; Del Fred Masawytewa stamps an M inside a bear paw; Gary Masawytewa built his paw out of the letters MASA. And the device is not only Hopi: Navajo smiths Rhoda Jack (BEAR plus a bear paw), Stover Paul, and the Jackson family use it, as does Kewa artist Vickie Tortalita, whose V T sits inside a bear paw or hand print. (HOUGART ~lines 15932, 16521, 21005–21010, 22889, 27926)
Beyond hallmarks, the bear itself is worn. Rosnek and Stacey document a Zuni turquoise bear fetish "with bits of shell, turquoise and rock tied on with sinew," eyes inlaid in silver. Dubin records bear-claw necklaces in the Plains tradition as earned regalia, and a 1990 piece by Jesse Lee Monongye (Navajo-Hopi) with bear-paw amulets in gold, opal, and turquoise. Frank and Holbrook show a Plains-style bear claw pendant joined to Pueblo crosses, giving the necklace "a new and powerful aspect befitting a religious ceremonial dance." And Rosnek notes the boundary that matters: some tribes wore grizzly claws as necklace components, but others, "the Navajo included, regarded bears as sacred and would not kill them save in self-defense." (ROSNEK ~lines 21007–21008, 21721–21728; DUBIN-NAIJ ~lines 3020–3047; FRANK ~lines 5433–5442)
Zuni Fetish Necklaces · Southwest Jewelry Glossary · Field Guide Hub