Navajo Fred Harvey Style Crossed Arrows Silver Pin by Diné Artisan [SOLD]

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Jeweler Once Known

This Navajo silver and turquoise pin is an example of one of the more popular designs the Fred Harvey Company carried in its souvenir shops.  Their intent was to make jewelry with symbols that evoked “Indian images” in the mind of a tourist traveling to the Southwest for the first time.  There is nothing more “Indian” than arrows.

Each arrow was made from silver, cut in a single piece, then stamped with feathers on the back end and an arrowhead on the front.  The two arrows were crossed and soldered at their midpoints. A single round and domed turquoise cab was added to the middle. Such items were made from the beginning of the 1900s to the mid-1900s.

The Fred Harvey Company opened its first restaurant along the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad in Florence, Kansas in 1878.  The business boomed rapidly after that, growing to include more than 80 facilities in the Southwest from Chicago to Los Angeles. The company employed pretty, young women to serve customers and collaborated with architect Mary Colter to create buildings that reflected the culture of the Southwest. Attached to the restaurants were gift shops, the purpose of which was to provide suitable “Indian” souvenirs to the travelers.

AT&SF: The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (reporting mark ATSF), often abbreviated as Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. Chartered in February 1859, the railroad reached the Kansas-Colorado border in 1873 and Pueblo, Colorado, in 1876. To create a demand for its services, the railroad set up real estate offices and sold farm land from the land grants that it was awarded by Congress. Despite the name, its main line never served Santa Fe, New Mexico, as the terrain was too difficult; the town ultimately was reached by a branch line from Lamy.

Condition: this Navajo Fred Harvey Style Crossed Arrows Silver Pin by Diné Artisan is in very good condition

Provenance: retrieved from a pawn shop in Gallup, New Mexico

Recommended Reading: Fred Harvey Jewelry 1900-1955 by Dennis June

Jeweler Once Known
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