Old Pawn…the real, real Indian jewelry

In and out of pawn for his lifetime... the Indian's most long-lived intimate property.

On the Navajo Indian reservation anything 100 years old is very old, ancient or antique. People and property of 50 years are old. Off the Navajo Indian reservation old pawn represents the real Indian jewelry.

Contrary to opinions of pseudo-experts, old pawn was not jewelry made only for pawn. Old pawn is not merely a piece of jewelry that an Indian has pawned because he has needed money. The search for old pawn is motivated by more than a romantic urge. For us, the value and emotional attraction for old pawn Indian jewelry is that it has been owned, appreciated, worn and used by real living Indians.

We see old pawn jewelry as an intimate relic of a people and a culture which is slowly and inevitably disappearing into history. The more we learn of Indian silversmiths and old pawn jewelry the more we are convinced that the old silversmiths produced a higher standard of their art for Indians than they did for traders and nonIndians.

When a Navajo man or woman wanted a piece of jewelry he went to a silversmith, usually a relative. The piece was made to order and scaled to the wearer's size and build. In most cases the buyer furnished the makings - silver, turquoise, old jewelry or whatever was needed.

From John Adair's classic book THE NAVAJO AND PUEBLO SILVERSMITHS: Sheep, goats, or calves are common forms of payment, and by this exchange many smiths have built up large flocks. Lacking cash, the buyers often secure on credit at the trading post some desired object for the smith. Turquoise or silver may be given for the jewelry, or the buyer may render some service to the smith, such as working in his fields or herding his sheep.

Often silversmiths make jewelry with their own supplies in payment of a debt. Very frequently they pay for sings which are held for members of their families with bracelets, necklaces, conchas, or other OPPOSITE PAGE: A treasure in old Indian jewelry and personal adornment from the Tanner Indian Arts private and special collections. Bracelets, rings and pin, lower right, are by the late Fred Peshlakai, one of the first known Navajo silversmiths to stamp his work with a hallmark, his initials FP. Fred Peshlakai was the first generation descendant of Slender Old Silversmith, Peshlagai Atsidi and Slender Maker of Silver, his father and uncles, recognized by their peers and historians as "innovators of new art forms and refinements complementing the techniques evolved from the influence of the old Spanish and Mexican plateros." The Besthlagai or Pesglagai brothers were most productive in the late 1870's through the early 1900's. When the traders made the fine cuts of turquoise available to the Indian silversmiths Fred Peshlakai created many of the refined classic examples prized by collectors. His best work was done during the 1940's through 1960. After leaving New Mexico and Arizona he operated his own business in Los Angeles and San Francisco, California. His tools and stamps are now the prized possessions of Dee Morris, silversmith of Sedona, Arizona. — MARKOW PHOTO

Old Keams Canyon

New and old dead pawn from McGee's Indian Den, Scottsdale, Arizona. The McGee family has been identified with Indian trading for almost half a century. When founder Bill McGee decided to live in Scottsdale, younger brother Clifford F. McGee assumed ownership of the three reservation trading posts at Keams Canyon, Polacca and Pinon. His sons Faron and Bruce are well known on the reservation where they carry on with the business started by Bill and Louise McGee. Meanwhile, in Scottsdale Bill McGee's Indian Den is a showplace of Indian arts and crafts, old and new. Several outstanding Navajo silversmiths have always been employed by Bill McGee in his Scottsdale shops. Visitors are always welcome to enjoy the displays of all-Indian arts and crafts.

The old spider web turquoise necklace, left, from the McGee collection is a perfect example of original Navajo execution. Note that each stone is of a different size and form. The unknown silversmith made a singular bed of silver for each stone. This technique is a one-of-a-kind classic. Modern jewelsmiths grind the stones to fit a pre-formed setting or fabricate a setting to a cut and polished stone.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY TED HILL

pieces. Table 11 lists some of the silver that Tom Burn-sides made for various Navajo. In each case, if there is a known relationship between the smith and the buyer, it is stated.

One of my informants said to me: "Sometimes a silversmith makes a nice bracelet which catches the eye of some girl and she wants it, but maybe she doesn't have any money to buy it. Then sometimes the smith tells the girl that he will let her have it if she will give herself to him." The informant added: "This happens most often among the younger unmarried smiths. Of course they don't say anything about it, but everyone knows that silversmiths do that."

I asked this same informant about the transaction between a smith and a buyer. He told me: "If a Navajo smith has a bracelet on his arm and another Navajo comes along and sees it, he might say, 'That's a nice bracelet; how much would I have to offer to get a bracelet like that?' The silversmith might say, 'If you like this bracelet how much do you think you could give me? I don't think that you have enough money, you know that it is expensive.' Then the other fellow might say, 'I will give you twenty dollars for it.' The silversmith would tell him how long it took him to make it and what a hard job it was. Then he would say, 'I want thirty dollars for it because the materials and the time cost a lot of money.' The buyer will say, 'I will pay you whatever you say because you know how much it cost you to make it.' The Navajo buying the bracelet would then take it and he would feel proud because he had paid so much money for it. A smith is doing the Navajo a favor when he sells him jewelry for a high price, because then the buyer can boast of how much he paid. He wouldn't be able to do this if he sold it to him for a cheap price. When a smith sells jewelry to a trader it isn't like that. He sells the silver for whatever the trader offers him for it. He meets the trader's price. He doesn't care about what the white man thinks of the silver. Silversmiths stamp designs on the silver which they sell to the white man that they wouldn't put on the jewelry if they were selling it to other Navajo. The Navajo won't buy silver made just any old way."

Indian jewelry served as decoration, a display of wealth and as collateral against loans at the trading post. The pawn rack was an important and respectable part of the economic and social life of the Navajo. Jewelry moved in and out of pawn at regular seasonal intervals synchronized to the spring and fall lamb, wool and harvest activities. Much of the jewelry was withdrawn from pawn during the summer dances and ceremonials, and returned OPPOSITE PAGE: Yei figures and eagle dancer in Navajo jewelry by Helen Long, matriarch of an illustrious family of Navajo silversmiths. Works of Helen Long are at a premium in the collectors market. The eagle dancer figure was made for old time trader, Don Pablo and measures 7 inches across the wings. From the Byron Hunter collection. Other pieces are from the private collection of the artist's family. Modern jewelry from the Long family is currently displayed at Byron Hunter's Trading Post and Saks Fifth Avenue, Phoenix; McGee's Indian Den, Scottsdale, and Don Hoel and the Bear Track in Sedona, Arizona. - JERRY JACKA

OLD PAWN from page 16

to the vaults again during the winter months. The discerning Navajo knew beauty and excellence in craftsmanship and would not wear sloppily made, poorly constructed silver. The quality and color of turquoise may not have been the best, but the silversmithing was something else. The Navajos kept their silver bright, shining and untarnished by brushing it in yucca suds and water. The amount of cash or credit advanced depended on the amounts of silver and turquoise, and the owner's credit rating with the post. It was seldom that a Navajo pawned all his silver with one trader. Old established traders set their own time limits with the individual regardless of the general law which only required traders to hold pawn for thirty days.

Ellis Tanner operates one of the few remaining licensed pawn racks at Gallup, New Mexico, and will not accept jewelry with treated turquoise or of non-Indian origin. Ellis holds jewelry in the vault for 90 days. If the loan contract is not satisfied or renewed, it goes on display in a warning case for 30 days before it is classified as dead pawn.

The wise and respected trader knows the value of good Indian jewelry and also knows the sensitivities and problems of his Indian patrons. He will generally inform the pledgee of the potential market value of his jewelry, and in most cases will not offer dead pawn for resale in the tribal area.

inated by taste and influence of alien people and cultures. If a piece of old Navajo pawn could talk, what a story it would tell of dances, ceremonials and happy times along the beauty way of Indian life.

March and April are prime Indian Arts and Crafts show months in Arizona. Two of the most noted events are the Scottsdale National Indian Arts Exhibition and the 9th Indian Trade Fair.

The Scottsdale National Indian Arts Exhibition, now the largest juried Indian art show in the world, will open to the public March 12 through 15, at the Safari Hotel Convention Center, Scottsdale. Open daily from 10 A.M. to 10 P.M., Indian artifacts from painting to pottery and poetry, from Northwest carvings to Kachinas and Seri sculpture, will be on exhibit and for sale during the four day run of the show.

Entries from Indian artists, craftsmen and writers number over 3,000 items. All awards are monetary, and serve as an incentive to those who enter. There is a special Student Section, with care being given to encourage the young artist and craftsmen. Each category is judged by a panel of qualified judges before it is displayed at the exhibition.

The Scottsdale National Indian Art Exhibition is sponsored by the Scottsdale National Indian Arts Council, Inc., a non-profit, tax-exempt organization.

The 9th Annual National Indian Trade Fair sponsored by the Salt River Indian Reservation will be held on the reservation at 10000 E. McDowell, March 26-30.

Applications are being taken for the Indian Arts and Crafts booths. All interested persons should contact the fair office for further information.

This year for the first time all applicants must be able to certify the authenticity of their Indian trade goods, officials said.

The New Traders new art forms, new silversmiths, new markets

The economic changes in the Indian jewelry business have been as spectacular and dynamic as the changes in art forms, techniques and innovations. The reservation trader is all but eliminated. The silversmith drives his pickup and Cadillac to the turquoise markets where he buys for cash. Families are engaged in a blooming "cottage industry" while the most sought-after jewelsmiths seek cash with which to buy a new car, household appliances and machines for their work. Unlike his ancestors who grew up with stories about Bosco Redondo, this generation of artists and artisans create an art to attract the buyer with the taste and means to afford his best-of-show award winning excellence.

The Navajo silversmith of fifty years ago cared little for the white man's taste or money. Today's young Indian geniuses care little for the Indian influence and symbolism. Indian art is being more and more referred to as Native American Art. The master jewelsmiths are designing and creating for the discerning non-Indian market.

From Margery Bedinger's authoritative source book "Indian Silver": The demand for Indian styles of jewelry, both genuine and spurious, has grown enormously, reflecting commercialization and aided by the mobility and prosperity of the population. The number of resort areas has increased, bringing more tourists and the shops they love. This commercialization, which horrified the aficionados of old, is not wholly bad, provided the buyer knows what he is getting! The demand for inexpensive Indian-style jewelry is so overwhelming that careful handwork can no longer fill it. Interest aroused by quantity-produced adornments sometimes leads to a desire for better articles. Education of the public taste is the real need, and this is continually taking place through exhibits, prizes offered at fairs, the efforts of the craft guilds, museums, and government schools, the many stores now stocking jewelry of high quality, and the increasing number of buyers and wearers of orna-ments of good weight and fine design. These influences already have raised the standards of some machine pieces.

The market is now predominantly white, a reversal of early conditions when Indians formed silver mostly for themselves. The Indians still buy jewelry, some excellent but much cheap and tawdry, "unrelated to their own silverwork." This orientation to white needs to brought change in design as well as kind of article made.

For Indians, there is still the bowguard, but now made only on special order, as are dress ornaments and V-shaped strips to edge the collars of Navajo women's blouses. Silver tweezers survive, but in like manner. Leather pouches decorated with silver appear, but it is unusual when canteens are made at all, and silver bridles are going the way of powder chargers, perhaps because the automobile is now the prestige symbol. Those bridles that are seen are apt to be ornate and lacking the fine design and crafting of the old.

Orientation to whites is demonstrated by a host of new articles appearing continually. To the traditional jewelry items are added combs and hair ornaments, brooches of all types, tie tacks and clips, pendants, cuff links, watchbands, and key chains. The variety of nonjewelry objects continues to grow: boxes of all sizes and shapes, smokers' needs, desk furnishings and bookends, table silver, from demitasse spoons to entire services of flatware, candle snuffers, bowls, hollowware, and even pistol grips.

Sheet silver, introduced in the 1920s by the federal Arts and Crafts Board, has replaced slugs completely. The sheets are 925 fine and come in several thicknesses, including a very thin one suitable for bezels, thus eliminating hours of tedious hand-hammering. The gasoline torch, allowing accurately controlled heat a necessity in small-stone work is used in place of the blowpipe. Jewelers' saws and vises are available. Wire is commercially drawn, saving another time-consuming process. "Findings," such as screws and clips for ear-rings and pins with safety catches for brooches, are purchased now. To form these by hand adds nothing to the beauty of the finished article but more to its cost.

Electricity has brought motor-driven lapidary wheels, equipped with diamond-toothed saws, fine carborundum wheels, and leather-polishing disks, all rigidly mounted in a unit. The Zunis, especially, have benefited from electricity. To the Navajos it is not as yet always available, because of their seminomadic life.

Several materials are no longer used. Copper and brass are employed for learners to practice on, "but almost never by smiths. Bell Trading Co. in Albuquerque turns out tons of manufactured copper and smiths just don't try to compete." During the 1930s and 1940s the Indians favored petrified wood for settings. It was too hard for them to shape, but was obtainable from traders already cut and polished. Today it is used occasionally. On the other hand, new materials have appeared: walrus and elephant ivory, ironwood from southern Arizona, obsidian, onyx, and even the precious stones diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and sapphires as well as gold.

Indians in the Southwest have worn red or pink coral beads since 1750, but except for one lot of trees procured in 1938 by C. G. Wallace, trader at Zuni, no uncut coral was available to them until 1951, when Neumann finally succeeded in getting raw trees from wholesalers. He found, as expected, that "Zuni efficiency and skill in working coral compares favorably with that of the lapidaries of the Old World." Later, pink ("angel skin") and white coral were introduced. Zunis treat coral like turquoise, cutting it into various shapes. It may appear alone or be combined with ornaments.

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 artist 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. 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.

Today only 14 karat gold is used, but at first, 10, 14, 16 and 24 karat gold together with the backs of old watches were all melted together. Smiths buy sheet gold or ingots and work them by the same techniques they use for silver. But as gold is harder than silver, it is more difficult to form, especially by casting. It demands more valuable settings than does silver.

In acquiring our information and knowledge we prefer the on-the-spot live actions to the vicarious sources. We live with our business and are ready for whatever exposure a telephone call might bring. Recently we were called to Scottsdale for a "behind the scenes" afternoon in the trader's world. Three young men had flown their private airplane from Thoreau, New Mexico. We listened and watched as they talked with the dealer over boxes of Indian made squash blossom necklaces packed in the rear compartment of their rented car. The deal was consummated in less than 5 minutes. For five thou-sand dollars in cash the dealer had purchased the lot of more than 80 necklaces. The three young traders needing cash for operating funds had sold their surplus inventory at a loss. They are typical of the many young business men who are involved in "cottage industry" operations throughout the Indian lands. They furnish the machine made beads, turquoise and silver to Navajo families who assemble units for compen-sation on a "piece work basis." The dealer will advertise the necklaces as genuine turquoise and silver Indian made squash blossom necklaces for only $125.00 each. Most of the tur-quoise is of mediocre quality. Some is treated and stabilized. These necklaces at $125.00 are the best Indian jewelry buy on the market. They are not to be compared with the imitation turquoise-colored plastic being sold today for from $100 to $600 per necklace.

Later that afternoon we saw the same dealer pay more than $400 per pound for fifteen pounds of almost pure turquoise slabs... a one-in-ten-thousand vein from a Nevada mine. The dealer has a list of traders and jewelers who will pay from $600 to $1,000 per pound for the top graded stone. These are but two extreme aspects in today's Indian jewelry business.

We know a score of young people, men and women, who travel the Indian lands in Cadillacs, Continentals, luxury station wagons and deluxe pickup trucks. With cash in hand they seek out the best jewelsmiths and head for the lucrative Indian shows throughout the Southwest. Some serve select retailers. Others work only the Hollywood and Las Vegas markets. Because of these new itinerant merchants the finest Indian jewelry is made available to buyers and collectors throughout the west.

The expanding interest in turquoise and Indian jewelry has caused change and innovation in designs and techniques and merchandising. Alfred Hanson, President of Tribal Craftsmen, Ltd., retired from a successful insurance business and acquired an inventory of fine turquoise which he supplies to Indian craftsmen engaged in making custom pieces. Hanson uses the National Observer and New Yorker Magazine to advertise his product and service.

When Jewel Box owner Morrie Reznick acquired a New Mexico trading post he found himself up to his neck in turquoise, silver and Indian jewelry. Five years ago the landmark pawn shop was a forest of musical instruments, watches, cam-eras and guns. Today one half of the store area is devoted to Indian jewelry with a wide selection from one hundred dollar squash blossom necklaces to ten thousand dollar nugget chok-ers. The Jewel Box moves into new quarters this Spring with a special vault room display and sales area. The Reznicks' private collection of old pawn and modern classics is one of the most important in the west. JOSEPH STACEY

The Doctors' TRADING POST GUIDE

When Arizonans decide to become involved, they really become involved! Dr. Hayes Caldwell and his wife Margaret saw a painting of an isolated Indian trading post at a gallery showing. It brought back a nostalgia of days gone by that could never be recaptured. The picture haunted them and they pondered the fate of the old posts. Couldn't something be done in order to preserve the atmosphere of the old posts so that future generations could enjoy part of this lost Americana? Sometime later, Doctor Caldwell asked retired Doctor Oscar Thoeny if he would be interested in becoming "involved" in the project. For the next two years Doctors Caldwell and Thoeny, along with their wives, Margaret and Dorothy, devoted every spare moment to the project. They spent long and tedious hours at the library, with knowledgeable friends, and touring the reservation lands interviewing relatives andacquaintances of the Indian traders who had founded and operated these colorful posts. At great personal expense Dr. Thoeny commissioned artist Marjorie Reed, who had grown up on the reservations, to research and restore as accurately as possible, on canvas, many of the old posts. Dr. Caldwell commissioned Peter Rogers and Peter Hurd (not shown in this issue) to reproduce some of the more recent posts. Scenic beauty or historical significance was the criteria. Their meticulous research has produced volumes of material, from which they hope soon to compile into book form. A portion of the material is presented here as a salute to a by-gone age . . . and in hopes, along with the Caldwells and the Thoenys, that somehow the trading posts will be preserved in the recorded history of the Southwest.

Notes on Trading Posts in This Issue

Page 2: BABY ROCKS TRADING POST, located on the Navajo Trail (route 160), eight miles east of Kayenta, is an example of a new post in an ancient land.

Pages 4-5: ISALINA SPRINGS TRADING POST (Salina Springs) was originally built by Roy Kennedy in 1913. Later it was purchased by William Bickel, who in turn sold it to A. H. Lee. Lee's son Arthur and his partner David Murry own the post today.

Page 6: For many years, beloved Doctor Clarence Salsbury traveled for his hospital at Ganado, south to BITA HOCHEE TRADING POST, in order to provide medical service of the Indians in the area.

Pages 8-9: WINTER AT HUBBELL'S TRADING POST . . . Just beyond the snow-covered stone and mortar fortress that was Hubbell's first trading post at Ganado, Juan Lorenzo, Sr., his wife, and their Indian friend, Many Horses, are buried.

Page 12: TUBA TRADING POST has been alive and well for the past one hundred years! Built in an octagonal design of stone, it was established by C. H. Aigert in 1875, and is perhaps one of the most colorful posts in the Southwest.

Page 13: The hub of the cattle trail crossing, RED LAKE TRADING POST at Tonalea, was one of the wild and wooly centers for both cowboys and Indians. Over the years many of the original buildings have been abandoned and removed leaving no trace!

Page 18: TSEGI CANYON John Wetherill led pack trains through Tsegi Canyon long before the trading post was built there. He nicknamed the canyon Skeleton Mesa. 10½" x 15½"

Page 19: SHONTO Joe Lee and John Wetherill built Shaa'tohi (Sunshine Water) in 1915. The profusion of grass and the nearby spring made the area a paradise in the wilderness. In time it was sold to the Richardson brothers, and the spelling and pronunciation were changed to Shonto. 13½" x 1534"

Page 20: KEAMS CANYON “Freighting Out the Wool” in the picturesque canyon, Keams Canyon Trading Post was a busy wool buying center. It is now the site of the Keams Canyon Day and Boarding School, which houses over 500 Indian students.

Page 21: KAIBITO “Autumn Kaibito Trading Post” - Located in a delightful canyon in the shadow of White Mesa, the once popular post is now a large school center.

Page 21: CHINLE “The Military at Chinle” Built in the late 1870s of logs, Sam Day's Chinle Trading Post was like a beautiful oasis. Located a few miles from Canyon De Chelly, the post is now called Thunderbird Trading Lodge.

Page 23: CEDAR RIDGE Navajos came from many miles around to trade and camp at Cedar Ridge Trading Post. The light from the Indians' campfires in the evening could be seen for miles, and helped guide weary travelers along the Mormon Trail to the shelter of the post.

Page 25: THE GAP Founded in the early 1880s, The Gap Trading Post was a favorite stopping-off place for the Indians, as well as wagon crews hauling copper from the nearby mines.

Page 26: GOULDINGS Hollywood used the magnificent scenic area around Gouldings Trading Post, in Monument Valley, when they filmed the original version of “Stagecoach.” Built in 1924, by Harry Goulding, the post and motel units have been given to Knox College in trust to provide scholarships for Navajo students.

Page 27: ORAIBI “Wool Buying Time at Oraibi” is supervised by Juan Lorenzo Hubbell, Jr. Parents were interested, but detached, spectators as their children accepted the responsibility of weighing the wool from their own sheep.

Page 28: TEEC NOS POS Translated from the Navajo, Teec Nos Pos means “Cottonwood in a Circle.” The original post, built in 1905 by Hamilton Bridges Noel, was built deep in the canyon, next to a cool, clear stream.

Page 47: COW SPRINGS TRADING POST was moved a half dozen times before finding its present resting place on the main highway (route 160). Locations of many posts were changed to follow a wash, or trail, or highway.

Hundreds of books have been written about Indian culture, silversmiths, jewelry and a very few books on Indian traders. Our primary sources of information for reference were the following: THE NAVAJO AND PUEBLO SILVERSMITHS by John Adair Adair, an expert on Indian handicrafts, was formerly a member of the Department of Anthropology at Cornell University, and at present is on the staff of San Francisco State College. He did postgraduate work at Michigan and Columbia Universities, and has been manager of the Navajo Arts and Crafts Guild, a tribal enterprise.

University of Oklahoma Press 9th Printing 1973 INDIAN SILVER NAVAJO AND PUEBLO JEWELERS by Margery Bedlinger A graduate of Radcliffe College, Margery Bedlinger has held a variety of positions in libraries in the United States, South Africa and Turkey. Her many visits to reservations in Arizona and New Mexico led to a lifelong study of Indian jewelry making. She is a world recognized expert in the field.

University of New Mexico Press 1st Edition 1973 AMERICAN INDIAN ALMANAC by John Upton Terrell A comprehensive and authoritative reference and chronicle written in layman's language. Terrell has simplified archeological, anthropological and ethnological information on the American Indians from prehistoric to present times. Thomas Y. Cromwell Company Apollo Edition 1974 INDIAN TRADERS by Frank McNitt The only complete book on Indian Traders and Trading Posts of the Southwest. McNitt has masterfully documented a comparatively unknown area of Western Americana. University of Oklahoma Press 1st Edition-1962

THE TURQUOISE OSTRICH

When the ostrich buries his head in the sand he does not see the world as it is. And so with the public attitude regard-ing treated turquoise.

First let us define turquoise. In our Random House Dictionary genuine means possessing the purported character, quality or origin not counterfeit authentic, real, proceeding from original stock.

Applying those definitions to people let us begin by recognizing we all proceed from the human species, and generally possess the same physical character qualities, born of a point of origin which has yet to produce a synthetic or counterfeit human.

All thoroughbred horses are not of the same blood lines. Their color, conformation and qualities vary from a measure of near perfection to those not fit for use or propagation. Only a few can be champions some will be blessed with a touch of greatness, the greatest number will fall into categories described by words as classy, fair, useful, cheap, etc. In the stud books and racing records, however, they are all classified as genuine thoroughbreds.

With turquoise less than 10 percent of any mined quantity will qualify as virgin, pure, super-fine or gem quality. Approximately 15 percent will be judged as top grade to better than average and good. The other 75 percent make up the general commercial grade with most of it lacking the color and density of the top 25 percent. The whole, nevertheless, is genuine and natural turquoise. Most of the aforementioned 75 percent is treated or stabilized. There are no more than three known professional treatment and stabilizing systems in the international turquoise industry, and at this writing, only two are being used. Modern industrial treating or stabilizing does not add dye or color to the mineral turquoise. Through processes of deep vaporic penetration through rough mined turquoise color is blushed from the stone itself through a natural process of chemical transformation. The amount of penetration and the color effected are according to the size and hardness and mineral make-up of the stone. Once blushed, the color is stabilized as permanently as that of virgin turquoise. Never specific, never constant, as with diamonds or emeralds, all turquoise is subject to atmospheric, climatic and body chemistry differences.

Treated or stabilized turquoise is used almost totally in contemporary beads, fetishes and the popular jocla type chokers. The modern chokers are usually tapered from a large center stone to the finer clasp end beads. The cost and worth of shaping, grinding and polishing similar beads from virgin and superior grade turquoise would make the cost of an ordinary choker at from $1,500 to $2,000 dollars.

It is no secret in the trade that most of the 75 percent of commercial grade turquoise is treated or stabilized. There is nothing new, dishonest or disgraceful about the treating or stabilizing of turquoise. Diamonds, emeralds, sapphires and other precious gems are treated by radiation techniques to alter and stabilize color. What is dishonest and disgraceful is the misrepresentation and mislabeling of jewelry using treated and stabilized turquoise at prices comparable to that of gem quality stones. In turquoise you get what you pay for and a buyer who expects hand crafted original silver and top grade turquoise at costume jewelry prices is like the ostrich with his head in the ground. The dealer who professes ignorance relating to the origin and quality of his wares is another ostrich with his head in the ground. Make no mistakes about it, treated and stabilized turquoise is big-big business. When it is done by professionals and sold by honest knowledgeable dealers good treated and stabilized turquoise is the best dollar for dollar buy on the market. Most of the turquoise we own is treated and we are constantly complimented on its color and form. In the final analysis, the majority of people buy turquoise for its sensual and esthetic appeal. A good piece of treated and stabilized turquoise is more attractive and more durable than a piece of untreated turquoise of poor color and lesser density. We can only afford the cost of good treated turquoise and have started a special collection of fine treated turquoise.

The cheap commercial market is flooded with synthetic blue colored plastic stones. Others are using particles of waste turquoise, dyeing them and mounting in epoxies. We have seen beads made of plaster and coated with turquoise colored blue lacquer that sold for $800 for one strand. Although many of these fake products are being used by the Indians them-selves as a substitute for the personal jewelry they have sold for premium prices, we must state that the Indian silversmiths and craftsmen are generally knowledgeable about the origin or quality of turquoise.

Off the reservation, an honest reputable dealer of long standing and experience is the best assurance against misrepresentation and dishonest practices.

Newspaper articles published in New Mexico in 1863-1864 indicated that the Navajos made bridle articles of horse equipage in iron and silver. These two examples of later day Navajo origin are from the Don and Nita Hoel Collection. -PETER BLOOMER

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From ARIZONA HIGHWAYS MAGAZINE postpaid and from regular news and book dealers OPPOSITE PAGE AND BACK COVER Two examples of masterpiece quality are the works of silversmiths Roscoe Scott and Anthony Begay. Especially designed and executed for the new market in haut couture, these are typical of award winning showpieces which bring top prices at the prestigious Indian art shows. Courtesy the Jewel Box Vault Collection. MARKOW PHOTO