The People and Culture of the Navajo by Kris Rickard

Author:Kris Rickard [Rickard, Kris A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Cavendish Square Publishing, LLC

The Silversmiths

In early times, Navajo men were skilled in working leather, wood, and other natural materials into useful household items. They made gourd ladles, wooden spoons, clay pots, parfleches (leather storage pouches), and rope from strips of rawhide. After they acquired horses, they learned to make saddles, bridles, and other riding gear. Over time, men turned their talents to silverwork.

Spanish explorers first introduced the art of silversmithing to the Southwest. Early on, the Navajo used silverwork to adorn their clothes and the bridles of their horses, but they did not practice the craft. They simply acquired horse bridles with silver for precious jewelry. They also hammered coins into silver buttons, which they sewed onto their clothing. The Navajo began to fashion their own silverwork in the 1850s, when a Mexican artisan named Nakai Tsosi taught the craft to a Navajo man known as Delgadito. A medicine man and ceremonial singer, Delgadito made his first piece of jewelry from silver coins around 1853. He is believed to be the first silversmith among the Navajo. He taught other Navajos, including his son Red Smith, and so established what has become a tradition among his people.

About this time, Captain Henry L. Dodge, the Indian agent at Fort Defiance in Arizona, brought in George Carter to teach blacksmithing to the Navajo, who applied the forging skills they learned to their silversmithing. After the Treaty of 1868, the Navajo acquired more specialized tools—anvils, pliers, scissors, and files—which they used to make more intricate objects. Along with buttons, they began to craft earrings, bracelets, belt buckles, and tobacco cases, as well as fancy bridle ornaments. Originally, the Navajo craftsmen acquired their silver by melting down American coins and Mexican pesos.

A woman models intricate Navajo jewelry.

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