Atkinson Trading Company — Southwest Jewelry Trading Company & Marks

Atkinson Trading Company — name card, T.Skies Southwest Jewelry Guide

Name-card placeholder — historic shop-mark imagery to follow. © Turquoise Skies Inc.

Trading company · Scottsdale, Arizona (posts in Arizona & New Mexico) · c.1956 onward · Southwest Jewelry Guide

Overview

Per Hougart, the Atkinson brothers — Leroy, Jake and Herman — established trading posts in Arizona and New Mexico, beginning with Box Canyon (named Rattlesnake Trading Post), then Lost Canyon Trading Post, Brock Trading Post, Stateline Trading Post and Indian Village. Herman Atkinson (1920–?) and his wife Phyllis (?–2012) opened the Atkinson Trading Company in Scottsdale, Arizona, around 1956.

Hougart notes that "numerous silversmiths produced for this company, especially in the 1970s." Across the Hougart name entries, dozens of Navajo silversmiths carry the notation "may be marked for Atkinson Trading Company" — the AT stamp frequently appears alongside, or instead of, a personal hallmark on work produced for the firm, which makes the shop mark an important attribution clue for 1970s-era Navajo jewelry.

The shop mark

"Mark: AT (conjoined)" — Hougart, Bille. Native American and Southwestern Silver Hallmarks, 5th ed. (2022), p. ~353.

Artists connected to Atkinson Trading Company

Per Hougart, Ivan Kee — brother of Allen and George Kee — worked at the White Hogan and for the Atkinson Trading Company. Hougart's individual entries also record John Spencer ("Worked for Atkinson Trading Company. Mark: J. SPENCER") and James Nez ("May be marked for Atkinson Trading Company. Mark: J N (conjoined)"), among many others whose pieces may carry the AT stamp — including members of the Jim, Claw, Dickens, Francis, Haley, Sam, Scott, Tsosie, White and Yazzie families.

The corpus does not document a founding or "house" artist for the company in the way Ambrose Roanhorse anchored the Navajo Arts and Crafts Guild; Atkinson's operated as a volume retail and trading business served by many hands.

References

Hougart, Bille. Native American and Southwestern Silver Hallmarks, 5th ed. Schiffer Publishing, 2022. Shops section, p. ~353, and individual artist entries.