C. G. Wallace Trading Post, Zuni: History, Smiths & Stamps
The C. G. Wallace Trading Post was the Zuni business of trader Charles Garrett "C. G." Wallace (1898–1993; Hougart 2022, p. 373), who was "operating his own trading post in 1928, with a workshop in the back for native silversmiths" (Chambless & Ryan 2021, p. 185). Over his career Wallace "employed, or purchased products from, over 500 Zuni or Navajo artisans" (Hougart 2022, p. 373). He sold the Zuni store in 1958 and ceased all operations in 1964 (Hougart 2022, p. 373).
Founding
"Wallace had begun working for Charles Kelsey at Zuni in 1919" (Chambless & Ryan 2021, p. 185); Kelsey has his own page, Kelsey Trading Company. The first post ran on credit: "In 1928 The Charles Ilfeld Company bankrolled Wallace's first trading post at Zuni (The C. G. Wallace Trading Store) through a line of merchandise credit" (Hougart 2022, p. 373). The Heard Museum's name-authority record agrees: "Established 1928" (Heard NAARC 2024).
The business grew into a chain. Wallace "owned and operated retail and trading companies at Zuni, Gallup and Albuquerque, including trading posts in Sanders and Cedar Point, AZ" (Hougart 2022, p. 373). He and John Kennedy bought Cedar Point Trading Post, near Sanders, in 1945 (Hougart 2022, p. 355). He also reached back toward stone: Joseph Baldwin Tanner "leased his claim at Courtland to C.G. Wallace, probably in the early 1930s" (Chambless & Ryan 2021, p. 185).
How the post worked
Wallace "continued to provide turquoise, silver, and design suggestions to the artisans, and then marketed their finished products" (Chambless & Ryan 2021, p. 185). He "encouraged execution of numerous styles, including channel and mosaic inlay, needlepoint and cluster work" (Hougart 2022, p. 373).
Many pieces passed through two sets of hands. Zuni lapidary Dennis Edaakie remembered: "We sold to Vanderwagen and C. G. Wallace. But we didn't do the silver settings. They had Navajos do that" (Bahti 2007, p. 44). Navajo smiths Roger Skeet Sr. and Jr. "made the silver frames for bracelets for C. G. Wallace, who had Zuni artists inlay them with turquoise" (Bahti 2007, p. 167). Payment was not always cash. Of selling to "traders Vanderwagen or C. G. Wallace" in 1964, Edaakie said: "We got half cash and half due bill [trade credit]" (Bahti 2007, p. 46).
People
Makers tied to Wallace in our sources include Dennis Edaakie, Roger Skeet, and Leo Poblano, who "sold most of his work to the trader C. G. Wallace" (Hougart 2022, p. 252). Navajo smith Austin Wilson was a "Silversmith with a number of trading companies, including C. G. Wallace, Robert Wallace, John Kennedy, Sr., Kelsey Indian Trading Co. and George Rummage" (Hougart 2022, p. 339). Wallace also collected: Hosteen Goodluck made him a classic belt in 1929 (Turnbaugh 2007, p. 76).
Several artists share the Wallace surname. Our sources do not connect any of them to the trader.
Robert Wallace
C. G.'s brother traded at Zuni too. "Early in his career, Lee [Weebothee] worked for Robert Wallace, brother of trader C.G. Wallace" (Hougart 2020, p. 103). Lee Weebothee recalled being paid for seven rings: "He tried to pay me in cash, but I wanted something to eat. I took a slab of bacon instead. I was so proud" (Bahti 2007, p. 198). Robert's government stamps were US NAVAJO 6 and US ZUNI 6, under the name "Zuni Trading Post; Robert Wallace, Zuni, NM" (Hougart 2020, p. 130). Our sources do not record his dates or where his post stood.
Marks and what to look for
Hougart lists Wallace's marks as "U. S. ZUNI 1; U.S. NAVAJO 2 … UITA 2; a UITA label" (Hougart 2022, p. 373). The U.S. stamps came from the government's IACB program. In the first weeks of stamping in spring 1938, Wallace had 727 of 2,322 pieces stamped, second only to Gallup Mercantile (Hougart 2020, p. 129). "Except for C. G. Wallace, all those who were given numbers objected to number two, fearing that it might be mistaken by consumers as designating 'second grade'" (Hougart 2020, p. 131). The number was about the dealer, not the quality. Wallace was also among the UITA's directors, held UITA number 2, and had been using paper labels "for years before UITA's appeal to the IACB" (Hougart 2020, pp. 135, 138, 131).
Read these stamps for what they are. A U.S. ZUNI 1, U.S. NAVAJO 2 or UITA 2 mark names the dealer, not the person who made the piece. Hougart adds that U.S. NAVAJO 2 pieces were "likely" sold "at many other locations after passing though Wallace's wholesale operation" (Hougart 2020, p. 131). Even the smiths' own marks are unsettled: "The marks below were used by silversmiths working for Wallace and could have been used by Little Joe Begay, Charlie Bitsui, Austin Wilson, Little Joe Yazzie or any number of silversmiths" (Hougart 2022, p. 373). See Charlie Bitsui.
Attribution goes wrong even in print. Roger Skeet Jr. keeps "an old auction catalog of the C. G. Wallace collection," in which a belt his father made in 1940, inlaid by Zuni artist Lambert Homer, is "attributed to Roger Jr. and dated 1936" (Bahti 2007, p. 167). Hougart lists it as Sotheby Parke Bernet, The C. G. Wallace Collection of American Indian Art, 1975 (Hougart 2020, p. 124). Our sources do not record the sale's lots or prices.
How it ended
"In 1958 Wallace sold the Zuni store to trader Richard Vanderwagen, but continued to run his stores at Sanders and Cedar Point, and another outlet in Gallup, NM at 1st & 66th Ave. Wallace ceased all operations in 1964" (Hougart 2022, p. 373). Cedar Point ran until 1980 (Hougart 2022, p. 355), but those later years were not Wallace's.
Hougart calls Wallace "well known for his influence on design in Native American jewelry" (Hougart 2020, p. 8). Our sources do not record his life before 1919, the site of the Zuni store, or the dates of the Albuquerque outlet.
From the Library: Ryan & Chambless, Turquoise in America Part Two: 1910–1990 (2020)
2020 primary source. Anything described as current here describes 2020, not today.
These are outside observers' records of the trade; the Navajo (Diné), Zuni and other nations are the authority on their own history.
According to Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 107), Wallace, born in North Carolina in 1898, came to the Gallup area in 1918 and learned the trade first under Louis Ilfeld at Ramah, New Mexico, then under Charles Kelsey, who managed the Ilfeld store at Zuni; by 1928 he held his own Indian trader license. [7]
According to Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 107), Wallace opened a branch on Route 66 in Gallup and, seeing the automobile tourist trade coming, bought land east of Old Town Albuquerque and built the De Anza Motor Lodge. [7]
Ryan & Chambless (2020) set Wallace against Albuquerque's machine-made trade:
“Whereas Maisel provided questionable product, Wallace remained dedicated to selling only the finest handmade jewelry, and contracted with many of the finest Zuni masters.”
— Ryan & Chambless (2020), p. 107 [7]
According to Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 107), Wallace's personal collection, sold at auction in 1975, was among the finest ever assembled. [7]
According to Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 103), Wallace also mined turquoise himself at Courtland, Arizona in the mid-1950s, with Brice Sewell assisting. [7]
According to Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 133), the 1949-1954 Blue Gem mine ledgers show C. G. Wallace as by far its largest buyer, accounting for as much as half of the mine's revenue in that period. [7]
According to Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 134), Wallace's buying is why so much Blue Gem appears in jewelry of the period, especially Zuni work. [7]
According to Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 137), Wallace also bought a nine-pound Number 8 nugget, which he later offered at $150,000 without selling. [7]
According to Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 168), C. G. Wallace bought the Last Chance and Gem Number 2 turquoise claims at Courtland, Arizona, on December 1, 1954, the only record the authors found of him owning a turquoise mine there; he apparently did little mining, though Bryce Sewell reportedly helped. [7]
Nila Brown recalled, in an interview published by Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 162), that Bill "Lucky" Brown supplied C. G. Wallace with rough turquoise. [7]
Gene Waddell recalled, in an interview published by Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 163), that Wallace, whom many considered one of the founders of Zuni jewelry, moved to Zuni around 1919, learned to speak Zuni and a little Navajo, and encouraged Zuni jewelers to make new work from the silver, turquoise, coral and shell he supplied. [7]
From the Library: Stacey, Turquoise Blue Book and Indian Jewelry Digest (1975)
1975 primary source. Anything described as current here describes 1975, not today.
In 1975, Joseph Stacey held up the Wallace collection as the proof of an era:
“From the early 1920's through the mid 1950's, Southwestern Indian silversmithing attained a degree of artistic excellence which rivalled that of distinguished silversmiths throughout history. The C. G. Wallace collection of Southwestern Indian jewelry and artifacts is convincing evidence of the quality representative of Navajo and Zuni genius.”
— Stacey (1975), p. 1 [8]
A 1975 caption on the tools behind the carving:
“A pencil point scales the size of the tiny bird carved by "Old Man" Leekya, with watchmaker files and cutting tools imported from Switzerland by C. G. Wallace.”
— Stacey (1975), p. 49 [8]
And on petit point, in the 1975 Turquoise Blue Book:
“C. G. Wallace was directly responsible for developing this more recent innovation.”
— Stacey (1975), p. 54 [8]
From the Library: Adair, The Navajo and Pueblo Silversmiths (1944)
1944 primary source. Anything described as current here describes 1944, not today.
Adair (1944) did not name the posts, but at the time of his 1940 Zuni fieldwork he found Navajo smiths working inside the pueblo for its traders:
“In addition to the hundred-odd Zuñi silversmiths, there are approximately a dozen Navajo smiths who live in the village and work the year around for two of the trading posts there.”
— Adair (1944), p. 168 [9]
According to Adair (1944, p. 169), one Zuni smith told him the traders kept these Navajo smiths in the village to make silver boxes and other large die-marked pieces, work the Zuni smiths disliked doing. [9]
Adair (1944, p. 170) noted that the silver and turquoise Zuni smiths worked for the traders then belonged to the trading posts, not to the smiths. [9]
According to Adair (1944, p. 207), in 1940 the Zuni traders, whom he did not name, paid for most jewelry by the piece: $1.00 to $1.50 in labor for a single-row bracelet with fourteen small turquoise sets, the trader owning the silver and stone, and fifteen to twenty-five cents for setting the stones in brooches and rings. [9]
In the winter of 1940, Adair (1944) counted Navajo smiths working at Zuni:
“During the winter of 1940 there were more than forty Navajo craftsmen living at Zuñi and working for the trading posts in the pueblo.”
— Adair (1944), p. 204 [9]
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. 28), Della Casa Appa (also called Della Casi), credited as the first woman at Zuni to work as a silversmith, made jewelry for sale to C. G. Wallace in the late 1920s and early 1930s. [10]
According to Baxter (2000, p. 120), needlepoint was believed to have started sometime in the 1930s, and the Zuni trader C. G. Wallace claimed that he had encouraged its development as an economic use of small stones left over from other lapidary work. [10]
Baxter (2000) pointed to the Wallace sale as an example of documented provenance:
“When major collections of native arts come up for auction, or have a catalog produced for such a sale, the provenance information contained therein can be highly valuable for scholarly knowledge; this was the case with a sale of jewelry from the collection of Indian trader C.G. Wallace.”
— Baxter (2000), p. 141 [10]
Baxter (2000) dated his Zuni store:
“One of the best-known Indian traders based at Zuni Pueblo, C.G. Wallace (1898-1993) ran a store there from 1927 to 1958.”
— Baxter (2000), p. 186 [10]
According to Baxter (2000, p. 186), Wallace's personal collection of Indian jewelry grossed more than $1 million when Sotheby Parke Bernet auctioned it in Phoenix, Arizona, on November 14-16, 1975 (Sale #3806), and the sale catalog became a provenance source and illustrated record of early- to mid-twentieth-century Navajo and Zuni silver and stone jewelry. [10]
Baxter (2000, p. 186) noted that in 1998 the Heard Museum in Phoenix mounted an exhibition, "Blue Gem, White Metal: Carvings and Jewelry from the C.G. Wallace Collection," on his accomplishments and his relationships with important Native artists. [10]
From the Library: Tryk, Santa Fe Indian Market (1993)
1993 primary source. Anything described as current here describes 1993, not today.
According to Tryk (1993, p. 74), during the Great Depression of the 1930s, when materials were frequently beyond the budgets of traders and artists alike, C. G. Wallace suggested that Zuni jewelers use up all the tiny bits of turquoise he had left over from previous projects. [11]
Tryk (1993) continued:
“And so was born the "needlepoint" style of Zuni jewelry, which has been developed into a unique art form.”
— Tryk (1993), p. 74 [11]
From the Library: Schaaf, American Indian Jewelry I (2003)
2003 primary source. Anything described as current here describes 2003, not today.
Schaaf (2003) wrote of the Zuni channel-inlay smith Frank Dishta:
“He is one of the early Zuni jewelers who began working for Zuni trader C.G. Wallace around 1939.”
— Schaaf (2003), p. 140 [12]
According to Schaaf (2003, p. 139), a 1976 letter from C.G. Wallace recorded that the Zuni smith Juan Dideos taught his nephew, Dan Simplicio, to melt silver coins and to make silver leaves of different sizes. [12]
Schaaf (2003, p. 146) recorded the Zuni jeweler Merle Edaakie, father of Dennis Edaakie, as a jeweler and stonecutter for C.G. Wallace and the VanderWagens. [12]
Schaaf (2003, p. 145) listed the C.G. Wallace collection among those holding work by the Zuni jeweler Lee Edaakie, active from before 1933. [12]
Schaaf (2003, p. 149) also listed the C.G. Wallace collection for the Navajo smith Eskiesose (Eski Sosi), active from about the 1910s to the 1940s in stampwork and repoussé. [12]
Schaaf (2003) quoted a 1976 letter from C.G. Wallace:
“Hosteen Goodluck was making heavy stamped leaves on bracelets and belt buckles in 1919.”
— Schaaf (2003), p. 164 [12]
In the same letter, quoted by Schaaf (2003, p. 164), Wallace wrote that he moved Goodluck from Houck, Arizona, to Zuni around 1920-21 to do cast work and make dies, furnished him fine Swiss files, and that Goodluck and Eskiesose made sets of dies which Wallace passed to other Zuni and Navajo smiths to encourage silverwork. [12]
Schaaf (2003, p. 159) also listed the C.G. Wallace collection among those holding work by the Zuni channel inlay master Annie Quam Gasper. [12]
Schaaf (2003) wrote of the Zuni inlay jeweler Lambert Homer, Sr.:
“one of the early Zuni jewelers who worked for trader C.G. Wallace”
— Schaaf (2003), p. 177 [12]
Schaaf (2003, p. 182) listed the C.G. Wallace collection among those holding work by the Navajo smith John Hoxie, active from about the 1930s to the 1950s, and (p. 181) by Daisy Hooee. [12]
Schaaf (2003, p. 192) recorded Winnie Jamon as a Zuni jeweler active from about the 1920s to the 1950s in petitpoint, needlepoint and channel inlay, whose work was collected by the Zuni trader C.G. Wallace. [12]
Schaaf (2003) entered the Zuni smith
“John Gordon Leak (John Gordon Leekity, Leakity, Leakala)”
— Schaaf (2003), p. 211 [12]
Schaaf (2003, p. 211) recorded that John Gordon Leak worked as a smith for the Zuni trader C.G. Wallace, and that his work often features black jet backgrounds with turquoise and coral. [12]
Schaaf (2003) wrote that Leonard Martza
“is one of the jewelers associated with the famous Zuni trader”
— Schaaf (2003), p. 233 [12]
Leonard Martza told Schaaf (2003):
“That building over there was originally Mr. Wallace's trading post.”
— Schaaf (2003), p. 233 [12]
Schaaf (2003) wrote that three of Martza's
“masterpieces of Zuni mosaic inlay were sold in 1975 at the noted Sotheby's sale”
— Schaaf (2003), p. 233 [12]
Schaaf (2003, p. 258) wrote that the Zuni trader C.G. Wallace supplied the lapidary Leo Poblano with high quality natural turquoise and preserved over twenty of his mosaic pieces and carvings, most dated from 1936 to 1958. [12]
Of the Zuni inlay artist Teddy Weahkee, Schaaf (2003) wrote:
“He sold his work to C.G. Wallace and other traders.”
— Schaaf (2003), p. 322 [12]
Field Notes by Mateo James
Our page dates Wallace's own Zuni post to 1928, the year Chambless and Ryan, Hougart and the Heard's record all give. Baxter (2000) has him running a store at Zuni from 1927 to 1958. The 1958 end date agrees; the start is a year apart, so I show both.
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.
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Sources
- Bahti, Mark. Silver + Stone: Profiles of American Indian Jewelers. 2007. pp. 44, 46, 167, 198.
- Chambless, Philip, and Mike Ryan II. Turquoise in America, Part One: The Great American Turquoise Rush, 1890–1910. 2021. p. 185.
- Heard Museum. Native American Artists Resource Collection name-authority list. 2024. Entry "C. G. Wallace Indian Arts & Crafts."
- Hougart, Bille. 100 Collectible Native American Silversmiths and Their Hallmarks. 2020. pp. 8, 103, 124, 129, 130, 131, 135, 138.
- Hougart, Bille. Native American and Southwestern Silver Hallmarks, 5th ed. 2022. pp. 252, 339, 355, 373.
- Turnbaugh, William A., and Sarah Peabody Turnbaugh. Indian Jewelry of the American Southwest. 2007. p. 76.
- Ryan, Mike, II, and Philip Chambless. Turquoise in America, Part Two: 1910–1990. Callais Press, 2020. Cited by printed page. Statements describe conditions as of 2020.
- Stacey, Joseph, ed. Turquoise Blue Book and Indian Jewelry Digest. Arizona Highways Collectors Series. Phoenix: Arizona Highways (Arizona Department of Transportation), 1975. Cited by printed page. Statements describe conditions as of 1975.
- 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.
- 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.
- Tryk, Sheila. Santa Fe Indian Market: Showcase of Native American Art. Photography by Mark Nohl; introduction by Allan Houser. Santa Fe, NM: Tierra Publications, in cooperation with SWAIA (Southwestern Association on Indian Affairs), 1993. Cited by printed page. Statements describe conditions as of 1993.
- Schaaf, Gregory, with Angie Yan Schaaf. American Indian Jewelry I: 1,200 Artist Biographies, ca. 1800-present. American Indian Art Series, Vol. 5. Santa Fe: CIAC Press, 2003. Cited by printed page. Statements describe conditions as of 2003.
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