Massive Diné (Navajo) Sterling Silver Concha Belt, circa 1940s [SOLD]

The Navajo (Diné) are a people who have added much beauty to their world and ours. Beauty is a quality they particularly appreciate; it is a repeated theme in their songs, ceremonies and in their rugs and jewelry. The Diné lifestyle and arts are those of a nomadic. They depend heavily on the horse and lavish their creative talents in weavings and silverwork on them. Perhaps there is some correlation in living with nature that sparks their creativity.

The concha belt is an example of a foreign item adopted and adapted by the Navajo. It may have originated with the Mexican silver concha bridle or, more likely, from the German silver hair drops worn by Plains Indians. In either event, the Navajo made it an item of beauty for their own use and an item by which they could fashion their wealth in silver and wear it for protection since there were no safe deposit boxes for storage.

The Navajo were the first Native Americans in the Southwest to master the techniques of silversmithing. It was learned from Mexican silversmiths and quickly became an art form of beauty by the Navajo.

This concha belt contains 6 large silver conchas, each in repoussé and stamp-work and each measuring 3-7/8 x 3-1/4 inches. There are 7 silver butterflies situated between the conchas, each in repoussé and stamp-work and each measuring 3 x 1-5/8 inches. The buckle is in repoussé and stamp-work and measures 3-1/2 x 3-5/8 inches.

The silver is of massive thickness and weight and is either coin or ingot silver. It is typical of pre-World War II style and weight and could date to as early as the 1920s. Belts with repoussé and cold chisel stamping were made as early as 1880. This belt is a collector’s dream.

Provenance: From the estate of a prominent Santa Fe collector.