Maisel's Indian Trading Post — Southwest Jewelry Trading Post & Marks
Name-card placeholder — historic shop-mark imagery to follow. © Turquoise Skies Inc.
Indian trading post and jewelry manufacturer · Albuquerque, New Mexico · founded 1923 · active through 2019 · Southwest Jewelry Guide
Overview
Maisel's Indian Trading Post was founded by Maurice Maisel in 1923 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on Route 66. Beginning with silver jewelry production by the late 1920s, the operation grew quickly to employ several hundred Native Americans in a production line that at some points included machine-press machinery. Hougart documents the company as one of the largest-scale Indian jewelry manufacturers of its era, with a catalogue distributed as far as Silver Arrow and Silver Products.
Maisel's operated in various Albuquerque locations over the decades. The operation closed in the 1960s upon the death of Maurice Maisel, then reopened in the 1980s as Skip Maisel's — named after Maisel's grandson Skip. The company closed definitively in 2019.
The shop marks
"Maisel's Indian Trading Post … Marks: MAISELS ALBUQUERQUE (encircling STERLING); a kachina image bearing a © symbol, and STERLING (on small items); MAISELS STERLING (in an oval, enclosing two arrowheads); kachina logo and Solid Copper (plus the Maisel's kachina); New Mexico; MAISEL'S STERLING. MAISEL'S Indian Trading Post Albuquerque" — Hougart, Bille. Native American and Southwestern Silver Hallmarks, 5th ed. (2022), Shops section.
Maisel's began marking its silver production with a stamp after World War II. The kachina logo — designed by Derbidge, per Hougart — became the most recognizable Maisel's identifier on post-WWII pieces. Earlier pre-stamp production from the 1920s–40s will not carry these marks and attribution depends on style and documented provenance.
The Hougart timeline records: "Maurice Maisel opens Maisel's Indian Trading Post in Albuquerque, NM" at 1923.
Scale, machine production, and the authenticity question
Maisel's is one of the documented cases in the Southwest jewelry trade where machine-assisted production intersected with the commercial Indian jewelry market. Hougart's entry notes production machinery in the line — which stands in contrast to the hand-production standards promoted by the Indian Arts and Crafts Board. SWAC (Southwest Arts & Crafts) and Bell Trading Post are noted as wholesale customers that Maisel's supplied, making Maisel's a significant behind-the-scenes supplier to shops that marketed hand-made goods.
This industrial scale means that Maisel's pieces vary widely in production method. Post-WWII stamped pieces are more consistently attributable than earlier production.
Artists connected to Maisel's
Julian Lovato (c.1925–2018; Kewa) is the most prominently documented individual artist connected to Maisel's in the corpus: he did lapidary work as a youth at Maisel's in Albuquerque before going on to become one of the defining figures at Frank Patania's Thunderbird Shop (from 1952) and later a SWAIA Lifetime Achievement Award winner (2002). His Maisel's lapidary apprenticeship is the clearest personal biography connection recorded in Hougart.
Fred W. Silversmith (Navajo) is listed in Hougart as a silversmith at Maisel's Indian Trading Post, with mark: unknown.
Collector's note
Pieces marked MAISELS ALBUQUERQUE or carrying the kachina logo date to post-WWII production. The kachina-logo stamp with © symbol narrows attribution further. Early (pre-WWII) Maisel's production predates systematic hallmarking and requires style-based attribution. The 1923 founding date and Route 66 location made Maisel's one of the most prominent shops in the tourist-trade era; genuine early pieces are documented in institutional collections.
References
- Hougart, Bille. Native American and Southwestern Silver Hallmarks, 5th ed. Schiffer Publishing, 2022. Shops section (Maisel's Indian Trading Post entry); timeline entry (1923 founding); entry for Julian Lovato; entry for Fred W. Silversmith.