Navajo Large Silver Button with Single Turquoise Stone [SOLD]

This large silver button with a small green cabochon of turquoise was most likely made by a Diné artist for personal use. Some of the first items made by early smiths, buttons could be easily pounded out of silver coins. Buttons were sewn onto shirts, used as a decoration on pouches or mounted on ketohs or bow guards. They were often used on medicine pouches. 

This button was shaped by pounding over a curved die and then adding the small section of turquoise. It was most likely made during the early- to mid- twentieth century. 

Condition: The Navajo Large Silver Button with Single Turquoise Stone is in good shape with a small crack in the bend of silver at one point.

Provenance: From the inheritance of a daughter of the Balcomb family, owners of several art galleries of Native American art and objects in the post-WWII era until the 1970s when they closed their last gallery.

Recommended Reading: Wearing the Moon—Navajo and Pueblo Silver Buttons by Gary Brockman

Relative Links: Southwest Indian Jewelry, Navajo, Buttons and Conchas