Diné of the Navajo Nation Silver Flatware Salad Service by Al Nez [R]

This salad service fork and spoon are the most beautiful set imaginable.  The long handles were textured and then a long silver bar was overlaid on the texture down the center of each handle.  Adjacent to the silver bar, the artisan fashioned a series of squared off S elements placing six of these parallel with the silver bar.  The pair is elegant and sophisticated.  Each is stamped STERLING and AL NEZ.  One would assume that Nez worked at The White Hogan, but there is no reference to such in any publications.  He perhaps created this elegant style independently.

Al Nez is a Diné of the Navajo Nation and a member of the Manygoats Clan.  He is a brother of silversmith Gibson Nez and was born in 1959.  He became an active silversmith in the 1970s and has acquired over 35 award ribbons in that time.  He is certainly a master silversmith and master designer.

Condition: very good condition

Provenance: this Diné of the Navajo Nation Silver Flatware Salad Service by Al Nez is from a client in Colorado

Recommended Reading: SOUTHWESTERN INDIAN JEWELRY Crafting New Traditions by Dexter Cirillo

TAGS: Diné of the Navajo Nation, Gibson Nez, Southwest Indian Jewelry, Al Nez, Silversmith