The Artist’s Signature: Hallmarks, Shop Marks and Unsigned Work
A hallmark is the mark a maker stamps or engraves on the back of a piece. In Southwest Native jewelry it is a fairly recent habit: most older work is unsigned, individual marks appear from about 1930, and among Navajo and Zuni smiths marking was still not common practice in 1976.[3, p. 37][5, p. 114] A mark can be a real help in identifying a piece, but it is evidence, not proof. Shops, guilds and government programs had marks of their own, and the standard references record shared, reused, misattributed and forged ones.
KEY POINTS
- Unsigned does not mean suspect: much fine older Navajo and Zuni work carries no mark at all.[5, p. 114]
- Marks spread in stages: a few smiths from the 1920s and 1930s, Hopi smiths widely after 1949, Navajo and Zuni smiths later still.[1, p. 67][2, p. 69][5, p. 114]
- A shop mark, guild mark or government stamp names an organization, not the hand that made the piece.[1, pp. 8, 92][2, p. 69]
- One mark can belong to two people, and published attributions get corrected.[1, pp. 43, 67][2, p. 71]
- “Sterling” stamped on silver is a claim about the metal, not a signature.[6]
Unsigned is the norm, not the warning sign
For most of the history of Navajo and Zuni silverwork, nobody signed anything. Lund, writing in 1976, puts the old logic plainly: the work itself was the signature. The smiths knew one another’s styles, and so did their customers.[5, p. 113] Turnbaugh and Turnbaugh say older jewelry is usually unsigned.[3, p. 37]
The reference books that catalog marks make the same point from the other side. Bille Hougart’s hallmark reference covers only artists who used at least one hallmark, and he says outright that this leaves out important makers who never marked their work.[1, pp. 3, 7] The best-documented list of marks is, by design, a list of the people who signed. Everyone else is missing from it.
So a missing mark, on its own, tells you very little. In Lund’s words: “Much of the excellent jewelry produced in the Navajo and Zuni styles was not signed, and some very sub-standard work was.”[5, p. 114]
When the marks began
The habit arrived in stages, and unevenly from one community to the next.
- The first personal stamps. Fred Peshlakai, active from the mid-1920s, was among the earliest Native silversmiths to stamp his initials on his work.[1, p. 67] Turnbaugh and Turnbaugh date occasional hallmarks to after about 1930.[3, p. 37]
- Hopi. A few older Hopi smiths marked silver in the 1930s. Marks became widely used during the veterans’ silversmithing classes of 1949, and by the time Wright wrote, much Hopi silver was stamped with the smith’s own symbol.[2, p. 69] Many of those symbols are clan symbols.[2, p. 69]
- Navajo and Zuni. Here signing came later. The Navajo Arts and Crafts Guild was still urging its members to use a hallmark in 1955,[1, p. 143] and in 1976 Lund reported that marking was still not common practice among Navajo and Zuni smiths.[5, p. 114]
Even after these dates, signing was never universal: Lund notes that many Hopi smiths still did not sign consistently in 1976.[5, p. 114]
A mark can name a shop, a guild or a program
Not every mark is a signature. Several kinds of mark name an organization rather than a person.
Shop marks. Trading companies and workshops stamped their own marks. Hougart notes that the White Hogan shop mark can sit beside a smith’s own stamp on the same piece.[1, p. 8] For Crafts del Navajo, he is careful: “It is likely that some of the silver work marked with the shop mark for Crafts del Navajo was made by Da-Pah.” Likely, not certain. A shop mark tells you where a piece was sold or made, not whose hands made it.[1, p. 92]
Guild marks. Work made under the Hopi Silvercraft Guild carries the guild’s sun symbol as well as the smith’s mark. But a smith could also make and sell pieces on his own at the same time, so pieces from the same years turn up with both marks or with only the smith’s.[2, p. 69] The guild’s own practice changed too: early on, each smith had his own guild sun; starting “late in the 1960s, or perhaps early 1970s,” one guild stamp served everyone.[1, p. 140] The Navajo Guild’s mark is a horned moon, a registered trademark.[1, p. 143] The Zuni tribe registered a trademark in 1967 for certified users, and Hougart admits the limits of what is known: “It is uncertain how long, or how extensively, this mark was used on Zuni jewelry.”[1, p. 144]
Government and trade stamps. In April 1938 the Indian Arts and Crafts Board launched official stamps reading U.S. NAVAJO, U.S. ZUNI, U.S. HOPI and U.S. R. G. PUEBLO, each with an assigned number.[1, pp. 126–127] The numbers in Hougart’s table went to traders, firms and Indian schools, not to individual smiths,[1, p. 130] and official use apparently ended quietly in 1943.[1, p. 134] The United Indian Traders Association, founded in 1931, later stamped its initials, broken by an arrowhead, with a member number.[1, pp. 135, 137] Its records have gaps of their own: “No examples of UITA’s numbered stamps above #40 have been reported.”[1, p. 139]
What a mark can’t prove
Even a real mark, read correctly, doesn’t settle who made a piece. The record shows four ways it can mislead.
- Two people, one mark. Fred Peshlakai and his brother Frank both used F. P. marks, and their work looks strikingly alike. Hougart: “Assigning items marked to either Fred or Frank is highly speculative and requires careful research.”[1, p. 67] Our own directory has a modern case: Joey Lee’s mark, JJL, has been used by his mother, Marciella Lee, since his passing.
- Reused marks. A Hopi smith could choose any mark he liked, and Wright records one smith using another’s feather mark, doubled.[2, p. 71]
- Wrong attributions in print. A K mark has been credited to Michael Kabotie, who said he never used it.[1, p. 43] A mark long credited to Ambrose Roanhorse in several reference books was later published as Ambrose Lincoln’s.[1, p. 145]
- Forged marks. Hougart’s reference illustrates known fakes of the Loloma and Fred Peshlakai marks.[1, pp. 49, 68] In 1976 Phil Woodard of Indian Jewelers Supply in Gallup put it bluntly: “There have been cases where a maker’s hallmark stamp has been reproduced by people other than the craftsman himself.”[4, p. 99]
“Sterling” is not a signature
Many pieces carry the word STERLING, often next to the maker’s mark. That word is a claim about the metal, not about the maker. Under the FTC’s Jewelry Guides, “Sterling” should mean silver at least 925/1,000ths pure, and “coin” silver at least 900/1,000ths.[6] A piece can be stamped STERLING and carry no maker’s mark at all.
Two questions the books don’t settle
Was the U.S. HOPI stamp ever used? Wright says the board authorized a “U.S. Hopi” stamp in 1938, “though it is doubtful that many items were marked with it.”[2, p. 69] Hougart goes further: the Hopi and Rio Grande Pueblo stamps “were apparently never used in an official capacity,” and his table lists both as unassigned.[1, pp. 130, 134] He suggests a reason: the board’s rules banned the sheet silver that Hopi overlay needs.[1, p. 129] Two careful sources, decades apart, can’t say whether the stamp was ever struck.
Is a hallmark worth anything to a buyer? Two dealers interviewed for the same 1976 book disagree. Tobe Turpen Jr.: “I place very little value on hallmarks, although they are often comforting to the buyer.”[4, p. 90] Joe Tanner: “We insist on hallmarks on all our jewelry … It’s a double-edged sword: if the smith does a lousy job, he knows he’ll get it back.”[4, p. 95]
What the record doesn’t hold
None of our sources explains how to tell a forged stamp from a real one by looking at it. We haven’t written a guide to spotting fake marks, because nothing on our shelf supports one. Our sources also say little about how individual Zuni smiths marked their work, beyond the tribe’s 1967 trademark.
Field Notes by Mateo James
The books disagree, and the disagreements are worth reading. Two dealers in one 1976 book can’t agree whether a hallmark is worth anything. Two careful authors, decades apart, can’t say whether the U.S. HOPI stamp was ever struck. Even Hougart, who wrote the reference on marks, tells you on page 3 who his book leaves out.
So treat a mark as one witness, not the verdict. The advice on our own collection page holds for both kinds of piece: an unsigned piece needs other documentation, meaning who made it, where it came from, and a seller who will put that in writing. A signed piece needs the same, because the signature can be shared, reused, misread or forged. Read the mark, then ask the questions anyway.
From the Library
What 5 reference books say about hallmarks and signatures, grouped by topic. Every passage names its book and page; full references are under Sources.
Unsigned work3 passages · 2 books
“A number of important artist are excluded because they did not use a hallmark.” (sic)
Hougart 2020, p. 3 [1]
“Some famous silversmith’s never ‘signed’ or used a hallmark.” (sic)
Hougart 2020, p. 7 [1]
“Much of the excellent jewelry produced in the Navajo and Zuni styles was not signed, and some very sub-standard work was.”
Lund 1976, p. 114 [5]
The first marks3 passages · 3 books
“Although older jewelry is usually unsigned, some silversmiths occasionally began to use hallmarks on their jewelry after about 1930.”
Turnbaugh & Turnbaugh 2007, p. 37 (caption) [3]
“Hallmarks became widely used on Hopi silver during the veterans’ classes in 1949.”
Wright, Hopi Silver, p. 69 [2]
“More and more silversmiths are beginning to use hallmarks, but it is still not a common practice among the Navajo and Zuni craftsmen.”
Lund 1976, p. 114 [5]
Organization marks4 passages · 1 book
“It is likely that some of the silver work marked with the shop mark for Crafts del Navajo was made by Da-Pah.”
Hougart 2020, p. 92 [1]
“Official use of IACB stamps apparently ended quietly in 1943.”
Hougart 2020, p. 134 [1]
“No examples of UITA’s numbered stamps above #40 have been reported.”
Hougart 2020, p. 139 [1]
“It is uncertain how long, or how extensively, this mark was used on Zuni jewelry.”
Hougart 2020, p. 144 (the Zuni ZCCA trademark) [1]
What a mark proves3 passages · 3 books
“Assigning items marked to either Fred or Frank is highly speculative and requires careful research”
Hougart 2020, p. 67 [1]
“a smith could pick whatever mark he wished. In some instances, a hallmark may be reused”
Wright, Hopi Silver, p. 71 [2]
“There have been cases where a maker’s hallmark stamp has been reproduced by people other than the craftsman himself.”
Phil Woodard, in Rosnek & Stacey 1976, p. 99 [4]
Frequently asked questions
Is unsigned Native American jewelry fake?
Not because it’s unsigned. Most older Navajo and Zuni jewelry carries no mark, and marking was still not common practice among Navajo and Zuni smiths in 1976. An unsigned piece needs other documentation: who made it, where it came from, and a seller who will put that in writing.
When did Native American silversmiths start using hallmarks?
A few smiths, such as Fred Peshlakai, stamped their initials from the 1920s and 1930s. Hopi smiths used marks widely after the veterans’ classes of 1949. Among Navajo and Zuni smiths, marking was still not common practice in 1976.
Does a hallmark prove who made a piece?
Not on its own. Some marks are shared (Fred and Frank Peshlakai both used F. P.), some are reused, some have been credited to the wrong artist in print, and some have been forged.
What is a shop mark?
A mark stamped by a trading company or workshop, such as White Hogan or Crafts del Navajo. It names the shop, not the smith, and it can appear next to the smith’s own mark.
Does “Sterling” on a piece mean it’s signed?
No. “Sterling” describes the metal: under the FTC’s Jewelry Guides it should mean at least 925/1,000ths silver. It says nothing about who made the piece.
A note on accuracy. We strive for accuracy, and this page is continuously updated with new information from the artists, their families, and the community. Corrections welcome.
Sources
- Hougart, Bille. 100 Collectible Native American Silversmiths And Their Hallmarks. TBR International, Inc., 2020.
- Wright, Margaret Nickelson. Hopi Silver: The History and Hallmarks of Hopi Silversmithing. Rev. ed. 1989; University of New Mexico Press paperback, 2003.
- Turnbaugh, William A., and Sarah Peabody Turnbaugh. Indian Jewelry of the American Southwest. Schiffer Publishing, 1996 and 2007.
- Rosnek, Carl, and Joseph Stacey. Skystone and Silver: The Collector’s Book of Southwest Indian Jewelry. Prentice-Hall, 1976.
- Lund, Marsha Mayer. Indian Jewelry: Fact and Fantasy. Paladin Press, 1976.
- U.S. Federal Trade Commission. Guides for the Jewelry, Precious Metals, and Pewter Industries, 16 CFR § 23.5(b)(2)–(3).