Shops, Trading Posts & Guilds of Southwest Jewelry
Shops, Trading Posts & Guilds: Where the Craft Met the World
Between the maker's bench and the buyer's hand stood a distinctive Southwest institution: the trading post, the curio shop, the craftsman's guild. These were not just retailers — they were employers, silver suppliers, schools, and in many cases the issuers of the shop marks that collectors still find on the backs of pieces today. This page tells their documented story; each shop also has its own entry in our directory.
White Hogan Silver — a shop as a movement
White Hogan Silver opened in May 1946 in Flagstaff as a joint venture between John Bonnell, Kenneth Begay and Begay's cousin Allen Kee, relocating to Scottsdale in 1950. Its first silversmiths were Kenneth Begay and Allen Kee, and over six decades its bench roster reads like a chapter of Navajo silverwork: George, Ivan and Anthony Kee, John G. Begay, Johnnie Mike Begay, Mike Carroll, Edison Cummings, Lowell Draper, Nicholas Gambino, Johnny King, Manuel Lewis, Sam Roanhorse, Johnson Todacheeny and Leroy Thomas. The shop closed in 2006.[1]
Its famous hogan mark was first used in 1948 — reportedly acquired from Fred Peshlakai — and usually appears with the initials of the individual silversmith plus STERLING HAND MADE.[1] Which raises a distinction every collector should know: the shop mark is not the maker's mark. Kenneth Begay's personal mark was KB; the hogan belonged to the shop. Our own verification system caught exactly this confusion in an early draft of our records — and the books themselves are careful about it. More in reading hallmarks.
Woodard's Indian Shop — the silver supply line
Marion (M. L.) Woodard worked for the United Indian Traders Association in the 1930s and operated shops in Tucson, Scottsdale, Santa Fe and Gallup — the Gallup shop at 218½ W. Coal Ave. Beginning in 1943, Woodard supplied silver to Native American silversmiths on behalf of the UITA under a federal license; the silver supply business was later sold to the Gross Kelly Company.[2] Woodard's mark story continues on its own page.
Zuni House
Opened in Tucson in 1947 by owner Meriden McKee; silversmiths working for Zuni House included Sam Roanhorse.[3]
The Zuni Craftsmen Cooperative Association — a guild of their own
Started in 1967 as a co-op to provide quality supplies for Zuni artists, to offer technical assistance and teaching programs, and to assist in marketing artists' work at its facilities in Zuni, New Mexico. Its mark: Z C C A on a knifewing.[4]
Hopicrafts — the shop as a school
On the Hopi mesas, the Hopicrafts shop functioned as a school: the books record it teaching Alfonso Gashwazra, Raymie Namingha, Edward Lomahongva, Stephen Hyson Naseyoma and Murray Jackson.[5] The teaching thread continues in The Teaching Tree.
Hubbell Trading Post
The trading post at Ganado, Arizona — among the most storied of the classic posts.[6]
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. Know something about these shops we don't? Tell us.
Sources
- Hougart, Native American and Southwestern Silver Hallmarks (5th ed.), p. 436
- Hougart 5e, p. 436
- Hougart 5e, p. 436
- Hougart 5e, pp. 20, 73
- Wright, Hopi Silver, pp. 112, 116–117
- Lowry & Lowry, Turquoise, p. 137; June, Fred Harvey Jewelry, p. 42; Encyclopedia of Native American Jewelry, p. 123