Very Vintage Native American Dead Pawn SIGNED Silver and Turquoise Bracelet
Here is a BOLD, HUGE and Heavy Very Vintage (probably 1940s-50s) Dead Pawn Native American sterling silver and untreated, natural turquoise bracelet, large enough for wear by either a man or a woman. It is very heavy and yet well balanced and comfortable. It has been in our collection for a very long while and was purchased on the Navajo Reservation as Dead Pawn, made by a Navajo Artisan - and we have never seen any indication that this should be in doubt- at the Rough Rock Trading Post. A focus on our collection was to purchase only dead Pawn Native American jewelry as that was the "real" Native American jewelry, not made for tourist consumption. To pawn jewelry (along with blankets, baskets, saddles, rifles, and pottery) has been a way of life for the folks of the Navajo and Zuni reservations, as they used trading posts in much the same way "banks" are used. Dead pawn classifies those items that never are redeemed from pawn, and are made available for sale. It was always an exciting time to go to the trading posts and to ask if they had any dead pawn in their vaults that had not been offered to the general public. Pieces such as this were what was offered to and purchased by us. It is a very impressive 3" wide and is 7" around on the inside and has an opening of 1 3/4". Due to it's very heavy construction, it is not recommended that the bracelet be stretched or crimped to increase or decrease it's opening dimensions. It has much raised silver heavily hand stamped, scalloped borders in the recognizable old style of the 1940's. It is signed / hallmarked with the initial Y and marked sterling. It has 66 large turquoise pieces. The stones are stable in their bezels. A few cabochons look like they may have hairlines, but I have looked at them with a magnifying glass, together with my reading glasses and run my fingernail over the lines and do not find any fractures. The variations in color, spider webbing and fine lines are the natural character of the turquoise. I do see one stone that looks like it is cut down a tiny bit from the higher plane of the other stones and has a fracture and small chip. Under great magnification, I found another cabochon that may have been cut along its edge not quite to the fit to the bezel. All of the cabochons are hand cut to fit the design of this massive bracelet. Some collectors may call this a ceremonial piece. I think it should be proudly worn and viewed as a pinnacle piece in one's collection.
Please Note: The Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990 is Federal Law. If the piece is unsigned - or signed such that a particular artist cannot be identified, so the tribe that the artist or artisan belongs to cannot be CORRESPONDINGLY identified, then the Law requires that -even though one may know the style and elements and type, and that the ways and means in which it is made definitely identifies the article as of a particular tribe- the piece cannot be identified as being a particular tribal piece, say of the Hopi or Zuni or Navajo tribe- but one can say it is similar
to or same as or in the style of a tribe- So for my jewelry that
was purchased much pre-1990, either from artisans on the
Reservations, or from galleries or trading posts on Reservations- I can give that purchase location information.Further, the law applies whether the piece was made in 1890, 1990 or 2009. If it is unmarked, or the artist mark does not indicate a particular tribal affiliation, I can say it looks like a particular tribe and in what ways I feel this is so- but I cannot say it IS a particular tribe. That breaks the Federal Law and is
a highly sensitive issue with Native American peoples. I am neither a lawyer nor a Federal Agent, but I try to maintain the integrity of my shop by complying with all known laws.
Item ID:P-07
Gender: Unisex, Age Group: Adult, Color: turquoise/silver, Size: L,XL
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