Snakes in Southwest Jewelry: Field Guide to a Contested Motif

The snake appears in Southwestern jewelry across multiple traditions — Hopi clan designs in overlay silver, Navajo stampwork and cast forms, and Zuni snake-eye cluster work — but its meaning and reception varied sharply between makers and buyers. Bedinger's primary account documents both Navajo smiths who refused to make snake forms and those who did, capturing the genuine complexity of a motif that does not resolve into a single cultural statement.

Field Notes by Mateo James

Bedinger's record is specific and worth quoting at length, because it preserves contradictory testimonies rather than smoothing them into a single interpretation. Lummis wrote (c.1893, cited in Bedinger ~line 5039): "So extreme are their prejudices that one of their skilled silversmiths was beaten nearly to death by his fellows for making to my order a silver bracelet which represented a rattlesnake; and the obnoxious emblem was promptly destroyed by the raiders — along with the offender's hut."

That account stands alongside a contradictory one from G.W. James (1904, cited in Bedinger ~lines 5057–5069): "I have ridden all over the Navaho reservation wearing both a rattlesnake ring and bracelet, and have had several made for me, on different parts of the reservation by different peshlikais... The snake watches and guards for us our springs and water-courses. Water is the most precious thing we possess in the desert. I make for you this ring in the form of a snake, that the power that guards our most precious thing may always guard you."

Bedinger also notes that "Adair found that although whites like snake bracelets and traders urge smiths to produce them, many Navajos refuse to do so." This was not a historical view that had resolved — different smiths held different positions on making snake forms, and the trade pressure from non-Native buyers was a real factor.

In Hopi silversmithing, the snake appears as a clan design in overlay. Wright documents "Snake and Lizard" as a recognized Hopi clan grouping (WRIGHT-99, ~line 3497), and Hougart (~lines 24848–24860) documents at least one artist's mark as "H (H for Hopi, plus a snake clan symbol) — there are at least two different snake stamps; the oldest has nine vertical bars and a four-rattle tail."

Zuni "snake-eye" turquoise cluster work is a documented style category — named for the small, round-cut turquoise stones rather than snake imagery, but recorded in Bedinger and Hougart's Zuni silversmith entries.

Collector's Handbook

What to look for: Snake forms in Southwest silver appear as cast bracelets, stamp-work rings, appliqué, Hopi clan designs in overlay, and Zuni snake-eye cluster work. Each tradition carries different context.

Recognition tells: Hopi clan snake marks are documented with specific form details (nine vertical bars, four-rattle tail for one documented artist). Navajo cast and stamped snake pieces vary by era and smith. Zuni "snake-eye" refers to stone shape, not snake imagery.

Cultural note: Primary sources document genuine disagreement among Navajo smiths about producing snake forms, with some refusing and others incorporating the motif. A snake-form piece should not be assumed to carry either sacred significance or its absence — the record supports both positions depending on the maker.

References

Bedinger, Margery. Indian Silver: Navajo and Pueblo Jewelers (1973), ~lines 5039–5089. [Primary source — extended documentation of Navajo snake controversy.]
Wright, Margaret. Hopi Silver (1999), ~line 3497. [Snake clan design in Hopi overlay.]
Hougart, Bille. Native American and Southwestern Silver Hallmarks, 5th ed. (2022), ~lines 24848–24860. [Hopi snake clan mark documentation.]