Atsidi Chon — Navajo Silversmith Hallmark

Name-card placeholder — hallmark imagery to follow.

Navajo · documented in the T.Skies hallmark library

Atsidi Chon (Navajo: "Ugly Smith") was one of the most important early Navajo silversmiths, active in the 1870s. He is credited with introducing silversmithing to the Zuni people when he set up a shop in their pueblo during that decade. According to John Adair's The Navajo and Pueblo Silversmiths (1944), Roman Hubbell stated that Atsidi Chon was the first Navajo to make silver in the vicinity of Ganado. Adair further reports that Grey Moustache attributed to Atsidi Chon the distinction of being the first smith to set turquoise in silver — though Adair notes this testimony is not conclusive evidence and that a more careful phrasing would be that he was among the earliest to do so in the areas he worked.

Atsidi Chon's name places him in the generation of legendary pre-hallmark smiths who preceded the era of documented marks. He is associated with Atsidi Sani (Old Smith), the founding figure of Navajo silversmithing, and with early cross-pueblo transmission of the craft. Because Atsidi Chon worked before the hallmark era, no personal stamp is documented for him in the available source record.

Heritage note: The Hougart chronological table records: "c.1872 Atsidi Chon teaches silversmithing to Lanyade (Zuni)" — placing his role in the cross-pueblo transmission of the craft at approximately 1872.

The mark

No hallmark documented. Atsidi Chon predates the hallmark era; no personal stamp appears in the Hougart record.

Pre-hallmark context: Works attributable to Atsidi Chon, if any survive, would be identified through provenance and stylistic analysis rather than a stamped mark.

References

• Adair, John. The Navajo and Pueblo Silversmiths. University of Oklahoma Press, 1944. Pp. ~2422–2445 (Atsidi Chon discussion and context).
• Hougart, Bille. Native American and Southwestern Silver Hallmarks, 5th ed. Schiffer Publishing, 2022. Chronological table, approx. p. ~2452 (entry: "c.1872 Atsidi Chon teaches silversmithing to Lanyade [Zuni]").

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