Bracelet with Chevron Design and 3 Turquoise Stones [SOLD]

Diné - Navajo Nation tribal native Jerry Roan (1919-1977) had a productive life as a silversmith and jewelry maker.  He began actively working at silversmithing around 1968. In 1969, a year after he began smithing, he won a First Place Award at the Navajo Tribal Fair in Arizona.

Roan was included in the 2002 exhibit “Jewels of the Southwest” at the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, Santa Fe.  His work is included in the collections of the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, Washington, and the Yellowhorse Museum in Paradise Valley, Arizona.

This wide silver bracelet with chevron designs was once part of Anita Da’s personal collection. Anita was the wife of Popovi Da, the son of famous San Ildefonso potter Maria Martinez. Anita and Popovi owned and operated a gallery at San Ildefonso Pueblo for many years. This fabulous bracelet reflects the high standards Popovi and Anita had for the material they purchased for their gallery as well as their own personal collections.

The wide cuff features three high quality spiderweb turquoise cabs set in a frame of incised chevrons. The center diamond serves as a frame for the stones. The chevron designs are precisely chiseled in perfect symmetry. The bracelet is stamped with the artist’s initials JR and a little stickman, the hallmark of Navajo silversmith Jerry Roan. Also, the initials DVP are incised. We have discovered that those are Popovi Da’s initials backwards and were incised on all the inventory of the gallery (see below). This bracelet was Anita Da’s personal bracelet which she gifted to her granddaughter, from whom we obtained it.

Condition: The Bracelet with Chevron Design and 3 Turquoise Stones is in excellent condition

Provenance: From the personal collection of Anita Da, from her granddaughter who was gifted the piece

Recommended Reading: Jewelry by Southwestern American Indians: Evolving Designs by Nancy Schiffer