Silver and Turquoise Pen Holder on Ironwood Base [R]

This beautifully burnished ironwood base provides the support for a pen holder made from a Navajo silver *naja with a turquoise cab mounted at the top of the arch. This was probably commissioned by someone with the initials HB as those initials are mounted on the ironwood.

* Naja: Early Navajo-made jewelry contained elements that were borrowed directly from Spanish colonial and Mexican ornament. One of these items is the naja, a crescent form of Moorish origin. The Spanish conquerors in the Southwest outfitted their horses in elaborate silver ornaments-one of which was the naja that hung directly on the forehead of the horse as a part of the bridle.

Condition: very good condition

Provenance: from the collection of a resident of Colorado

Recommended Reading: Masterworks and Eccentricities: The Druckman Collection; Navajo and Pueblo Jewelry and Metalwork 1880-1950 by Robert Bauve