It is often thought that the wedding vessel was a creation by potters to satisfy a tourist market but Teresita Naranjo of Santa Clara Pueblo stated that they were actually used in the pueblo, although she was not aware that they had been used since around 1935.

This Southwest Indian Pottery wedding vessel was executed in the traditional manner of Lela and Van Gutierrez with the design executed in multiple colors of natural materials.  There is a half sun face on both sides of the vessel.  The sun rays are rendered as feathers.

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In the early twentieth century, banks were non-existent on the Navajo Reservation. As a result, the Navajo tended to invest their wealth into jewelry and if they needed money, they could pawn the jewelry at the local trading post. One popular form of jewelry that is distinctly Navajo is the Concha Belt. Conchas (named after the Spanish word for shell) are round or oval disks of silver. The Navajo have taken a design which they may have borrowed from the Mexican concha bridle ornament or from the oval shaped hair ornaments worn by the Plains Indians and added designs copied from the leather stamps of the Spanish and Moors. The shortened name, concha (or conchas for more than one) is used to describe these belts.

This belt consists of eight oval repoussé sterling silver conchas, each with a small domed turquoise cab at its center. Between each concha is a sterling silver repoussé rectangular "butterfly." A large and very beautiful blue oval and domed turquoise stone is set in a silver bezel as the buckle. All these parts are tied together with black double leather belts. The widest leather serves as the backing for the silver parts and the thinner leather is laced through each of the parts.

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Two Grey Hills Trading Post is over a century old, and one of the few remaining historic posts on the Navajo Indian Reservation. It is the primary source of authentic regional rugs and tapestries. Made of hand spun yarn from the fleece of naturally colored local sheep in shades of gray, brown, black and white, they are known around the world as the finest in Navajo weaving.

Since the early 1900s the weavers in the Two Grey Hills region, with the guidance of the traders, have produced rugs that are recognized everywhere as the pinnacle of the art. Artists there have challenged each other to spin the tightest yarns and to create the most intricate designs on their looms. Their trademark colors are the natural colors of the local sheep; grays and browns, white and black.

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This basket features a large, prominent eagle as the focal design. The eagle is very important to all Native peoples, and the Hopi are no exception. The eagle is used in a number of religious ceremonies and its feathers are used in pahos (prayer sticks), on Katsina and Katsina dolls, and in home altars. The Hopi have the utmost respect for eagles. 

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It is quite likely that Lester purchased Hopi pottery from Hubbell at Ganado.  This jar, bearing his paper label could not have been sold by Lester after 1914, the year he moved to California.  If it was made in the first decade of the 20th century, as we suspect, it was most certainly made by Nampeyo of Hano.

The jar bears resemblance to many of Nampeyo's jars with a wide mid-body and a short rising rim that rolls outward just so slightly.  The design on the shoulder was arranged in a beautiful style and the painting was applied with extreme precision.  The rectangular element suspended from the design is a variation of the Sikyatki bird design used by Nampeyo on many examples of her pottery.  The extension of the fine black line from the upper and lower designs serves to provide upper and lower framing lines.

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Santo Domingo Polychrome is a typology designation that has been used for over a hundred years. Now that the pueblo has gone back to using its ancestral name, there could be some confusion as to whether Santo Domingo Polychrome or Kewa Polychrome is the correct typology designation. Most likely, Santo Domingo Polychrome will continue to be used until there is an official recognition of a typology name change.

This Kewa Pueblo Pottery Serving Bowl is typical of the size of a serving bowl. It is slipped on the interior with a stone polished cream finish, has a black rim, and natural stone-polished underbody with a rag-wiped red band just below the design field.

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This is an amazingly visually strong pattern on a Crystal Trading Post textile.  It was woven from all hand-spun Native wool with only red aniline dye.  The center design appears to be in the process of enlarging into an explosive moment.  The grey, red, and white zigzag lines seem to vibrate.  The dark brown variegated wool is deep in color and reminiscent of a night sky.  The Vallero Stars float on the night sky as twinkling lights.  

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Before the arrival of the Spanish to the Southwest, the Pueblo Indians were weaving their own clothing.  Weavers at Hopi, Zuni, Jemez and Acoma have been particularly recognized for fine weaving with native cotton.  At Hopi, men were weavers. After the arrival of the Spanish, who brought sheep with them, the Navajo became the famous weavers, but it was the women who were the weavers.  It is said that the Navajo learned to weave from the Hopi, particularly from those who were captured by the Navajo. 

The Navajo women were weavers of fine wearing blankets and serapes.  They became extraordinarily proficient in making the finest textiles imaginable.  The weave was tight and the patterns were beautiful. 

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The foundation of this bracelet consists of three silver flat strips spread at the center and soldered at the ends.  The foundation supports three silver conchas, each highly decorative and each with a small turquoise cab. The bracelet is stamped with the initials RB enclosed in a line drawing of a bear.  This hallmark sign is not included in any of my hallmark reference books, so the artist is probably a young person who was not active when the books were compiled.  The Silver and Turquoise Bracelet with Three Discs does have the look of being relatively new.

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The Tohono O'odham have rejected the former name Papago, used by Europeans after being adopted by Spanish conquistadores from hearing other Piman bands call them Ba:bawĭkoʼa. The Pima (Akimel O'odham) were competitors and referred to the people as Ba:bawĭkoʼa, meaning "eating tepary beans." That word was pronounced Papago by the Spanish and adopted by later English speakers.

This cylindrical basket is one probably made in the pre-World War II period, to be sold to the tourist market.  It is too small to serve a function in a Native home.  The basket has a rich warm patina which attests to its age.  It has a design of stepped squares hooked to adjoining ones in chain-like manner.  The yucca is wrapped over a grass bundle and the design is made from the wild plant, Devil's Claw.

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Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo had a strong tradition of plainware pottery production prior to 1900.  Pottery styles included Black-over-gray and Red-over-tan, the difference being only from the firing technique.  Pottery had slip applied only partially, usually the upper half, in red clay.  If fired in an oxidizing atmosphere, the result was Red-over tan, the tan being the natural color of the clay body.  If fired in a reduction firing, the result was Black-over-gray, the gray resulting from the firing effect on the natural tan clay body.

Those two styles of pottery were the extent of pottery production at the pueblo.  The lack of painted designs was the reason such vessels were so beautiful.  Vessel shape and high burnish were the traits that brought out the beauty of each jar or bowl.

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Popovi Da began collaborating with his mother on her pottery in 1956, following a period when Santana had been assisting her mother-in-law.  Popovi and his mom worked together until his death in 1971. Popovi worked with Maria in all aspects of pottery preparation and their pieces were co-signed.  When Popovi passed away, Maria essentially retired.  Popovi initiated the process of adding the date to his and Maria's pottery in 1959.  Prior to that, they were just co-signed with the two names.

This plate with a feather design does not have a date so it would have been made between 1956 and 1958, the period before dates were placed on their pottery.  It is this period, when Maria was assisted by her son, which most collectors herald as the greatest period of creativity.

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This exceptional Zuni Pueblo fetish* necklace is comprised of three strands, each of a different length arranged in such a manner that each strand can be viewed without overlapping another.  The longest strand contains 21 fetishes carved from jet, coral, mother-of-pearl, turquoise, and abalone.  The middle strand contains 19 fetishes carved from the same stones and maybe others.  The shortest strand contains 18 fetishes carved from similar stones.  The fetishes are strung about an inch apart on shell and turquoise hieshe.  The three strands are separated at each end by a turquoise fox fetish.  The three strands are held together at their ends with silver cones and a silver clasp.

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It was documented around 1900 that basket making was practiced in nearly every Pima home.  Twenty years later it was stated that not one out of ten women could weave a creditable basket.  In that 20 years, commercial utilitarian vessels became available so it is not unexpected that they would replace hand-woven baskets for home use.  Since collectors and tourists were only willing to pay one to two dollars for a basket, the women realized that it was not worth their time to make them any longer.  They could earn that per hour doing field work.

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Navajo blankets were of a size to comfortably wear.  Generally, they were of banded patterns in a horizontal stripe and with no border.  When the traders began asking the women to weave rugs, the weavers chose familiar banded patterns, enlarged the size, and made the yarn looser and thicker.  This lasted for 20 years or so before a more definite rug pattern developed.  This 20-year period has been recognized as a period of transition from blanket to rug and has been designated the Transitional Period of Navajo weaving, and the textiles from this period are known as Transitional Rugs.

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This elongated turquoise stone has been anchored in a silver bezel surrounded by a sheet of silver drops.  The pendant is attached to a necklace of silver beads. 

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The Zuni Rainbow Man is among the most popular jewelry item for collectors. Representations of specific native religious imagery such as this was frowned upon among most pueblos, but some ceremonially significant figures were conventionalized and used for decorative purposes, probably knowingly so, because of non-Indian interest. Some of these figures had their appearances deliberately altered to avoid offending traditionalists' spiritual sensitivities.

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Harrison Begay (1914-2012) Haashké yah Níyá - The Wandering Boy often painted images that he intended to be retained as a pair.  This is one in which he painted a young Navajo boy on his horse and a matching painting of a young Navajo girl on her horse.  The pair looks so well together that it would not be proper to separate them so we are offering them only as a pair.

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Howard Sice is the son of a Hopi mother and Laguna father. He served in the US Air Force for 20 years and came back and began a career in silversmithing. He is known for his etching technique, creating delicate designs on a silver surface.  He has won numerous awards and has exhibited at Santa Fe's Indian Market, the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture and the Arizona State Museum.

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The craftsmanship of Albert Nells is easy to recognize. His distinctive geometric overlay is usually punctuated with small dots of silver. He uses the traditional Diné colors of blue, red, black and white in his channel inlay. Nells has been making jewelry since the late 1970s and has been the recipient of awards ever since.

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