Buying Guides · History & Culture · Sep 12, 2026

Authentic Navajo Concho Belts: A Collector’s Buying Guide

A concho belt is a row of silver plates on a leather strap, and it is one of the oldest forms in Southwest silverwork. To buy one well, you need to know four things: what a label like “Navajo” actually claims, how to read a belt’s age from how it was built, what the silver and stones can and can’t tell you, and how to fit and care for a piece this heavy. This guide takes them in order. For silver and turquoise to wear alongside a belt, see our men’s jewelry. Every historical claim here comes from the reference books listed at the end.

What “Navajo” on a concho belt claims

On a listing, “Navajo concho belt” is a statement about who made the belt, not a description of its style. The U.S. Indian Arts and Crafts Board explains the federal law: under the Indian Arts and Crafts Act, “it is illegal to offer or display for sale, or sell, any art or craft product in a manner that falsely suggests it is Indian produced, an Indian product, or the product of a particular Indian Tribe.” The Board’s test is short: “Indian labor makes art or craftwork an Indian product.”

So a belt with oval plates and scalloped edges isn’t Navajo because of how it looks. Ask the seller for the maker’s name and tribal affiliation, and get it on your receipt. A hallmark helps, but it isn’t proof on its own. Marsha Lund wrote in 1976 that “Much of the excellent jewelry produced in the Navajo and Zuni styles was not signed, and some very sub-standard work was.” More in our guides to buying authentic Native American jewelry, spotting fakes and reading hallmarks.

Where the concho belt came from

The word is Spanish. Margery Bedinger explains that “Concha means shell in Spanish and is a term given to round or oval silver plates used for decoration, mostly on belts and bridles, but on other things as well.” Early writers called the plates “rosettes.”

Where the form itself came from is still argued, and the books don’t agree. Larry Frank points to the Plains: by the early 1860s, Plains peoples had “evolved their own individual style of silver concha-like hair plates and belts,” and Navajo raiding and trading brought those pieces west. Bedinger sets out the case the other way. She quotes the researcher Mera, who compared early Navajo plates with Plains hair plates and wrote, “I can truthfully say that I have never seen any resemblances between the Plains and Navajo concho belts of any period.” Mera traced the Navajo plate to Spanish and Mexican ornaments instead, pointing to a Spanish spur concha whose scalloped edge and bar-crossed center match the Navajo belt plate.

The oral accounts Bedinger collected hold both threads. Sam Tilden remembered belts worn by wealthy Navajo before the exile at Fort Sumner: “The conchas were usually plain, but some had one simple band of decoration around the edge. They traded these from the Utes, who, some say, got them from the Mexicans.” Long Moustache described what may be the first belts Navajo smiths made themselves: “After the return from Fort Sumner the two smiths … began to hammer out big silver disks or plates which, strung together, made an ornate belt.” By 1883 the ethnographer Washington Matthews could report that “Leather belts studded with large plates of silver are favorite articles of apparel, and often contain metal to the value of forty or fifty dollars.” For the wider story, see our guide to Navajo jewelry and our page on trading posts.

How to read a belt’s age from its construction

Dealers often sort old belts into a “first,” “second” and “third” phase. Treat those labels with care. In Larry Frank’s book, “first phase” isn’t a type of belt. It names a whole era: “That year, 1868, marks the beginning of what we call the first phase of Southwest Indian jewelry,” and the era closed in the transitional period “from about 1900 to 1930,” when the tourist market “brought an end to first phase jewelry-making.” One of our reference books does use the numbered phases: Schiffer (1996, pp. 81–82) describes a first, second and third phase. But neither it nor any other book we own puts dates on them, so we won’t either. What the books do document is a sequence of construction features. Turn the belt over and look for these.

1. A slot in the center, crossed by a bar

The earliest plates had no soldered fittings. Peshlakai Atsidi, born about 1850, remembered belts where “They had no solder so the leather was laced through slots cut in the conchas.” The classic early Navajo plate was oval, with a scalloped edge and a diamond-shaped opening crossed by a bar, and the strap laced through the opening and over the bar. Of a group of plates collected in the 1880s, Frank notes that “The center slots have been cut with a cold chisel.” He also dates the shapes: “Both the round and the oval concha belts were in use from the early 1870s up to the turn of the century.”

2. A soldered loop, and a solid center

Once smiths soldered a loop to the back, the slot wasn’t needed. Bedinger describes what happened to the design: “When a soldered eyelet of metal through which the strap could slide rendered the central opening no longer necessary,” the smiths kept the center as the focal point, and “a diamond-shaped area of plain silver took the place of the opening and became a nucleus from which the decoration of the interior radiated.” A closed center with decoration radiating from it tells you the plate was built for a loop, not a slot.

3. Smaller plates set between the conchas

Later belts alternate the conchas with smaller plates. Bedinger reads this as outside influence: “White influence is shown by the use of smaller conchas and plates of other forms alternating with the traditional ones. These plates have great variety: oblong, oval, square, even butterfly shapes, set between conchas.” Collectors call the butterfly-shaped ones “butterflies.” The dated examples she illustrates, with round-ended butterflies, are from about 1920.

Weight and size

Weight follows the supply of silver. “The very early ones were also thin, but this was due to scarcity of metal. As silver became more plentiful, conchas grew heavier.” Bedinger cites the writer Lummis, who in 1884 counted about three silver dollars in a usual concha and wrote that “from eight to a dozen conchas form the average belt.” By the postwar years the trend had turned again: “The classic concha is smaller and lighter.”

What the silver can and can’t tell you

You’ll often read that early coin silver has a shine you can see. Frank disagrees: “any differences among United States coins, Mexican pesos, and sterling silver (which was used after 1900) are impossible to discern by visual examination.” He adds that coin silver, even when a lab confirms it, “is of little value for indicating age,” because some smiths kept using U.S. coins after World War II, “and the fakers use it even now.” Judge an old belt by its construction, not by the color of its metal. On a newer belt, look for the sterling mark: under the Federal Trade Commission’s jewelry guides, “Sterling” may only describe metal that is “at least 925/1,000ths pure silver.” More in our page on coin silver vs. sterling.

The decoration is part of the silverwork too. Stamped borders and designs are the most common, and our page on stampwork explains where the stamps came from.

Turquoise on a concho belt

Turquoise came to the concho belt comparatively late. Bedinger: “When settings became common, turquoise might decorate the center. This development was comparatively late, perhaps because it necessitated many pieces of matching stone for one belt.” That matching is what to look at on a stone-set belt. Check that every stone sits tight in its bezel, and ask the seller whether the turquoise is natural, stabilized or treated. Our guides to spotting fake turquoise and turquoise color and value cover the stone itself. For one extreme example of matched stones, see the Royston turquoise concho belt from our 2014 archive.

The strap and the buckle

The leather does real work. Bedinger explains why belts are backed: when the strap runs straight through the plates, the metal “rests directly on the cloth of trousers or skirt, which tends to wear out the fabric.” The fix was to back the conchas “by a piece of heavy, stiff leather slightly smaller in circumference.” A second style shows wide leather all around the plates, often with scalloped edges and a narrow hidden strap holding the conchas, and she notes that “This type is worn by men.”

Buckles came later than the belt. “The first concha belts were fastened by tying with leather thongs, but soon thongs gave way to buckles.” Plain harness buckles appear on some early belts. Buckles then grew larger until they became a showpiece in their own right, and a buckle doesn’t always match its conchas: Bedinger notes that buckles were sometimes “put on belts for which they were not made.” A mismatched buckle on an old belt isn’t automatically a problem, but ask about it.

For link belts, where the plates join to each other with silver rings and there’s no strap at all, see our older post on conchos.

Sizing and fit

A concho belt fits differently from an ordinary belt. The plates have width and weight, so buy by measurement, not by your usual belt size.

Measure where you’ll wear it. Wrap a soft tape exactly where the belt will sit, over the clothes you’ll wear it with. Concho belts are usually worn over clothing, not through belt loops.
Decide between the waist and the hips. A belt worn low on the hips needs more length than one cinched at the waist.
Ask for the strap’s full length and the hole positions. The buckle and the tongue change the usable length, so compare the seller’s measurements with your tape, not with a size label.
Allow for weight. A heavy stone-set belt moves as you walk. A slightly snugger fit keeps it in place.

On a strap belt the plates slide along the leather, so the spacing can be adjusted, and a new strap can be cut if the old one is too short or worn out. That flexibility is old. The 1930 account Bedinger quotes says “From six to twelve plates, according to size, made a belt; and one or two disks are often taken off and used as money when the owner wishes to gamble or buy.”

Caring for a concho belt

For the silver, the Turnbaughs recommend a jeweler’s rouge cloth, which “will remove tarnish from the surface without damaging stones and without polishing dark areas of the silver that the craftsman deliberately oxidized to heighten the contrast of the silver design.” They also warn that “Paste polishes and jewelry cleaning solutions also may affect the stones in Indian jewelry and should never be utilized.” Keep the strap dry and away from heat. For storage, they advise wrapping each piece separately, and warn that “less stable plastics give off fumes that may tarnish or discolor the jewelry.” Our jewelry care guide and guide to cleaning Native American jewelry cover the rest.

Buying with confidence

Ask who made the belt, and get the answer on your receipt. Turn it over: a chiseled slot, a soldered loop behind a solid center, or small plates set between the conchas each tell you something about how and when it was built. Don’t date it by the shine of the silver. Check every stone and the strap, and measure where you’ll wear it. For silver and turquoise to wear with a belt, browse our men’s jewelry, and ask us about any piece before you buy.

Frequently asked questions

How can I tell how old a concho belt is?

Turn it over. On early plates, “The center slots have been cut with a cold chisel,” and “Both the round and the oval concha belts were in use from the early 1870s up to the turn of the century” (Frank, Indian Silver Jewelry of the Southwest, pp. 44–45, figs. 40–41). A soldered loop behind a solid center came later (Bedinger, Indian Silver, p. 63).

Does coin silver prove a belt is old?

No. Coin silver “is of little value for indicating age, since U.S. coinage continued to be used by some smiths after World War II, and the fakers use it even now,” and it can’t be told from sterling by eye (Frank, Indian Silver Jewelry of the Southwest, p. 12).

What are the “butterflies” on a concho belt?

Smaller plates set between the conchas. Bedinger lists “oblong, oval, square, even butterfly shapes, set between conchas,” reads them as a sign of “White influence,” and dates her illustrated examples to about 1920 (Indian Silver, p. 64, fig. 27).

Can a concho belt be resized?

A strap belt usually can. The strap runs through the openings or loops on each plate (Bedinger, Indian Silver, p. 65), so the plates can be moved or put on a new strap. Plates came off old belts too: “one or two disks are often taken off and used as money” (Bedinger, p. 62, quoting Coolidge and Coolidge, 1930).

Is a “Navajo concho belt” always made by a Navajo silversmith?

It must be if it is sold that way. Under the Indian Arts and Crafts Act it is illegal to sell a product “in a manner that falsely suggests it is Indian produced, an Indian product, or the product of a particular Indian Tribe,” and “Indian labor makes art or craftwork an Indian product” (Indian Arts and Crafts Board, turquoise brochure, p. 2).

From the Library: Frank, Indian Silver Jewelry of the Southwest (1990)

1990 primary source. Anything described as current here describes 1990, not today.

Holbrook, writing in Frank (1990), tied the early slot shape to the tool that cut it, the cold chisel:

“The fact that tightly curved lines could not be cut with it probably accounts for the straight-sided "diamond slot" openings on early conchas.”
— Frank (1990), p. 15 ^[1]

According to Frank (1990, p. 15), where soldering failed, some conchas were attached to the belt by a bar that was an integral part of the piece rather than a loop soldered on the back. Copper or brass loops on buttons and later conchas were not only an economy: both melt at a higher temperature than silver, so the loop would not melt while the solder flowed. ^[1]

According to Frank (1990, p. 19), disklike silver hair plates were traded to eastern Indians by white men as early as 1750. By 1820 they had spread to the Central and Southern Plains, where men strung several together on cloth, horsehair or leather, and by the 1880s a hair plate might reach six feet in length. ^[1]

Holbrook, writing in Frank (1990), summed up the concha belt as a blend of sources:

“The Navajos took the Plains Indian idea of a decorative belt of metal disks, changed the material from German silver to silver, and decorated the conchas with techniques and designs learned from the Mexicans.”
— Frank (1990), p. 20 ^[1]

According to Frank (1990, p. 19), the most telling comparison for the concha's decoration was the hardware on old Mexican chests: the scalloped edges, the stamped crescent designs and even the curious holes around the edges of first phase conchas all appear on the old ironwork. ^[1]

From the Library: Turnbaugh, Indian Jewelry of the American Southwest (2007)

2007 primary source. Anything described as current here describes 2007, not today.

According to Turnbaugh (2007, p. 35), the repeated units of a large piece, such as squash blossom beads on a necklace or concha slides on a belt, should vary slightly from one another if they are completely handmade. ^[2]

Photographing the back of a wrought concha pin, the Turnbaughs (2007) pointed to its history:

“The four scars near the center of this piece are old solder marks which reveal that this concha has been recycled.”
— Turnbaugh (2007), p. 34 ^[2]

From the Library: Manley, Collecting Southwestern Indian Arts & Crafts (1979)

1979 primary source. Anything described as current here describes 1979, not today.

A 1979 caption in Ray Manley's Collecting Southwestern Indian Arts & Crafts compared old and new belts:

“Old (far right) and new (center and left) Navajo belts. Butterflies in bow guard pattern are interesting in the third belt, as is the substitution of coral in the center example.”
— Manley (1979), p. 41 ^[3]

From the Library: Schiffer, Indian Jewelry on the Market (1996)

1996 primary source. Anything described as current here describes 1996, not today.

In a 1996 caption for a second-phase buckle with a solid center, Schiffer described the earlier and later construction:

“The first phase style was pierced with two triangular openings through which the leather passed. When Navajo silversmiths began to solder metal, they began fixing soldered bands to the backs of conchas through which the leather straps would pass.”
— Schiffer (1996), p. 81 ^[4]

Of a third-phase belt, Schiffer (1996) wrote:

“The third phase style includes turquoise centers on the concha.”
— Schiffer (1996), p. 82 ^[4]

From the Library: Welch, Indian Jewelry (1973)

1973 primary source. Anything described as current here describes 1973, not today.

Writing in 1973, Frankie Welch traced the concha belt to the hair plates of the northern Plains tribes:

“Punching and filing, stamping and hammering, they made popular circular hair plates. Men wore them on a strap attached to the hair; women wore them hanging from belts.”
— Welch (1973), p. 25 ^[5]

Welch (1973, p. 25) called these Plains hair plates the first concha belts and dated the Navajo copies to about 1870, after the northern Plains tribes began working silver about 1805. ^[5]

From the Library: Adair, The Navajo and Pueblo Silversmiths (1944)

1944 primary source. Anything described as current here describes 1944, not today.

Writing in 1944, John Adair described the earliest Navajo conchas he knew:

“The earliest Navajo conchas were round in form, thin, and light in weight.”
— Adair (1944), p. 30 ^[6]

Adair (1944) placed the oval plate a step later:

“At a slightly later date the Navajo began to make oval conchas”
— Adair (1944), p. 31 ^[6]

Weighing the Plains and Mexican evidence, Adair (1944) split the credit between them:

“it appears to me highly probable that the Navajo copied the basic form of the conchas worn by the Plains tribes and applied to it Spanish designs”
— Adair (1944), p. 31 ^[6]

According to Adair (1944, p. 32), a few conchas carried turquoise from about 1900, when the stone became more plentiful, but set conchas did not become common until after 1920; usually there was one round or oval stone at the center, and a ring of small sets around the edge came later still. ^[6]

According to Adair (1944, p. 33), in the twenty years before his fieldwork traders had encouraged smiths to make small, light conchas suited to white women's tastes, often under two inches across and weighing a fraction of an ounce, so that a dozen or more were needed to fill out one belt. ^[6]

From the Library: Lund, Indian Jewelry: Fact and Fantasy (1976)

1976 primary source. Anything described as current here describes 1976, not today.

Lund (1976) on the slides behind early conchas:

“The slide on the back of the conchas was made of copper. Silver was valued too highly by the Indians to be used in a place where it was not visible.”
— Lund (1976), p. 39 ^[7]

Lund (1976, p. 39) warned buyers that small conchas linked together with silver rings were light pieces made for the tourist market and should not be taken for a traditional Navajo form. ^[7]

Lund (1976, p. 117) told buyers judging an old concha belt to ignore the leather, which can be replaced at any time, and to look for a slight polish of wear on the inside ends of each concha where the strap rubbed; since belts were seldom restrung in a new order, some conchas should show more wear than others. ^[7]

From the Library: Baxter, Encyclopedia of Native American Jewelry (2000)

2000 primary source. Anything described as current here describes 2000, not today.

According to Baxter (2000, p. 21), the first concha belt buckles were small and shaped to contrast with the main plates; around the 1880s smiths began to make the buckle larger relative to the concha and to cast it in a rectangular or lozenge shape, or even one close to the concha disk itself. ^[8]

According to Baxter (2000, p. 35), early conchas had diamond-shaped slots cut in the center so they could be slid onto a leather belt, and around the 1880s smiths began to use closed center plates with soldered loops on the back. ^[8]

From the Library: Woodward, A Brief History of Navajo Silversmithing (1946)

1946 primary source. Anything described as current here describes 1946, not today.

Writing in 1938, Woodward (1946) traced the round silver hair plates of the Plains tribes onto belts:

“The women of the Plains favored such belts and at first glance one might easily mistake one of the early belts of this type for an early Navajo belt of similar pattern.”
— Woodward (1946), p. 8 ^[9]

According to Woodward (1946, p. 7), German silver came into its own among the northern and southern Plains tribes during the 1830s, as the western fur trade swapped good silver for cheaper metals. ^[9]

In 1855 Dr. Jonathan Letterman described the Navajo man's dress, as Woodward (1946) quoted him:

“Over all is thrown a blanket, under and sometimes over which is worn a belt to which are attached oval pieces of silver, plain or variously wrought.”
— Woodward (1946), p. 18 ^[9]

The first picture of a Navajo wearing a belt that Woodward (1946) could find was Lieutenant Ives's illustration from his Colorado River report. Woodward described it as

“a narrow leather belt studded with oval silver conchas”
— Woodward (1946), p. 18 ^[9]

Writing in 1938, Woodward (1946) described the first Navajo belt plates:

“It is significant to note that the earliest Navajo belt conchas are large and quite simple in design.”
— Woodward (1946), p. 22 ^[9]

On their shape, Woodward (1946) wrote:

“Moreover, the older conchas are round, and so were these on the captured belts taken from the Ute, Comanche, etc.”
— Woodward (1946), p. 22 ^[9]

According to Woodward (1946, p. 22), the oval conchas, elaborately stamped and later set with turquoise, marked later tastes and styles, far removed from the earlier forms. ^[9]

These are statements recorded by outside writers in 1855-1946, and Navajo elders' recollections as Richard Van Valkenburgh and Mary Russell F. Colton wrote them down; the Diné are the authority on their own history.

Very Slim Man, born in 1853, told Van Valkenburgh about two conchas taken from a Comanche bridle in his father's day, as printed in Woodward (1946):

“These were plain, with square holes to tie them to the leather.”
— Woodward (1946), p. 68 ^[9]

He went on, Woodward (1946):

“Across the center of these square holes was a thin bar.”
— Woodward (1946), p. 68 ^[9]

Mary Russell F. Colton's record of Peshlakai Atsidi's 1937 statement, as Woodward (1946) printed it, says the first buttons and belt conchas were of brass and copper, and

“that these were made without solder and were attached to the leather of the belt by lacing the leather through slots in the conchas.”
— Woodward (1946), p. 72 ^[9]

On where they came from, Woodward (1946):

“These metal conchas were first seen by the Navajos on the Utes.”
— Woodward (1946), p. 72 ^[9]

Field Notes by Mateo James

Schiffer (1996, pp. 81-82) describes a first phase pierced with two triangular openings and a third phase with turquoise centers. Frank describes the earliest plates with a diamond-shaped opening crossed by a bar, so the two books picture that first opening differently. I am leaving both descriptions here rather than choosing one.

I notice a difference on the shape of the first plates. Our guide describes the classic early Navajo plate as oval, while Adair (1944, p. 30) wrote that the earliest Navajo conchas were round, thin and light, with oval ones following a little later. Both readings are here so you can compare them.

This guide calls the classic early Navajo plate oval. Woodward, writing in 1938, said the older conchas were round and the oval ones came later. Two of the elders' statements quoted here also read differently in Woodward's 1946 edition: Sam Tilden's words were taken down by Richard Van Valkenburgh, and the 1937 Peshlakai Atsidi statement is Mary Russell F. Colton's third-person account of what he said about laced, unsoldered belts. I show the book's wording beside the guide's.

Sources

Margery Bedinger. Indian Silver: Navajo and Pueblo Jewelers. University of New Mexico Press, 1973, pp. 20, 32, 59, 61–65 (fig. 27), 188.
Larry Frank with Millard J. Holbrook II. Indian Silver Jewelry of the Southwest, 1868–1930. Schiffer, 1990 ed., pp. 3, 5–6, 12, 44–45 (figs. 40–41).
Washington Matthews. “Navajo Silversmiths.” Second Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology. 1883, p. 178.
William A. Turnbaugh and Sarah Peabody Turnbaugh. Indian Jewelry of the American Southwest. Schiffer, n.d., “Care of Jewelry.”
Marsha Mayer Lund. Indian Jewelry: Fact and Fantasy. 1976, p. 114.
U.S. Department of the Interior, Indian Arts and Crafts Board, with Joe Dan Lowry (Turquoise Museum). Indian Arts and Crafts Act turquoise consumer brochure (GPO gpo58769). n.d., pp. 1–2.
Federal Trade Commission. Guides for the Jewelry, Precious Metals, and Pewter Industries, 16 CFR § 23.5(b)(2).
Frank, Larry, with the assistance of Millard J. Holbrook II. Indian Silver Jewelry of the Southwest, 1868-1930. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing, 1990. First published 1978 by New York Graphic Society. Cited by printed page. Statements describe conditions as of 1990.
Turnbaugh, William A., and Sarah Peabody Turnbaugh. Indian Jewelry of the American Southwest. Foreword by Barry M. Goldwater. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing, 2007 (copyright 1996 and 2007; first published 1988). ISBN 0-7643-2577-9. Cited by printed page. Statements describe conditions as of 2007.
Manley, Ray. Ray Manley's Collecting Southwestern Indian Arts & Crafts. Text by Clara Lee Tanner and others; photography by Naurice Koonce, Ray Manley and Alan Manley. Tucson: Ray Manley Photography, 1979. Includes Clara Lee Tanner, "Southwest Indian Silverwork," pp. 39–41. Cited by printed page. Statements describe conditions as of 1979.
Schiffer, Peter N. Indian Jewelry on the Market. Text and photography by Peter N. Schiffer. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing Ltd., 1996. Cited by printed page. Statements describe conditions as of 1996.
Welch, Frankie. Indian Jewelry: How To Wear, Buy and Treasure America's First Fashion Pieces. McLean, VA: EPM Publications, Inc., 1973. Cited by printed page. Statements describe conditions as of 1973.
Adair, John. The Navajo and Pueblo Silversmiths. The Civilization of the American Indian Series. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1944. Cited by printed page. Statements describe conditions as of 1944.
Lund, Marsha Mayer. Indian Jewelry: Fact and Fantasy. Boulder, CO: Paladin Press, 1976. Cited by printed page. Statements describe conditions as of 1976.
Baxter, Paula A., with Allison Bird-Romero. Encyclopedia of Native American Jewelry: A Guide to History, People, and Terms. Phoenix: Oryx Press, 2000. Cited by printed page. Statements describe conditions as of 2000.
Woodward, Arthur. A Brief History of Navajo Silversmithing. With field notes by Richard Van Valkenburgh. Museum of Northern Arizona Bulletin 14, 2d ed. Flagstaff: Northern Arizona Society of Science and Art, December 1946 (first edition 1938). Cited by printed page. Statements describe conditions as of 1946.