White Hogan Silver: History, Smiths & the Hogan Mark

White Hogan Silver was a silver shop that "opened in May 1946 in Flagstaff, AZ" and moved to Scottsdale. "The shop closed in 2006" (Hougart 2022, p. 374). Its lead silversmith, Navajo Kenneth Begay, was also a partner in the business (Baxter 2000, p. 188; Hougart 2020, p. 13). Its hogan stamp is a shop mark. It names the shop, and the initials of a silversmith usually sit beside it to name the maker (Hougart 2022, p. 374). Our sources give two accounts of how the partnership began, and we give both below.

Founding

Bille Hougart's hallmark reference, the book we use to identify marks, gives the fullest account: "The shop opened in May 1946 in Flagstaff, AZ as a joint venture between John Bonnell, Kenneth Begay and Begay's cousin Allen Kee. The shop relocated to Scottsdale, AZ in 1950." It adds, "The first silversmiths were Kenneth Begay and Allen Kee" (Hougart 2022, p. 374). Hougart's companion volume says Begay "was a partner in the White Hogan Silver shop in Scottsdale, Arizona, where he went to work in 1946" (Hougart 2020, p. 13).

Paula Baxter's Encyclopedia of Native American Jewelry tells it differently. She dates the partnership a year later and names two owners: "In 1947, John and Virginia Bonnell, owners of the White Hogan, went into a form of partnership with their lead silversmith, Navajo Kenneth Begay (1913-1977)." By the early 1950s, she writes, "Begay received a regular salary and was allotted a percentage of company profits" (Baxter 2000, p. 188). In her entry on Begay she calls it his "employment at the White Hogan shop in Scottsdale, Arizona, in the late 1940s and early 1950s" (Baxter 2000, p. 13). So Hougart has a joint venture of three men in 1946, and Baxter has the Bonnells taking Begay into a partnership in 1947. Our sources don't settle it.

The move to Scottsdale came around 1950. Hougart gives 1950 (Hougart 2022, p. 374). Baxter says the store, "Originally located in Flagstaff, Arizona, during the 1940s," relocated "to Scottsdale in the 1950s," and she places it in "the Old Town section of Scottsdale" (Baxter 2000, p. 188). The Heard Museum's library files the shop under "White Hogan," with "Bonnell's White Hogan" and "John Bonnell's White Hogan" as other names for it (Heard Museum 2024).

Hougart describes the house look: "White Hogan Silver promoted designs with clean, repeating design elements, and shaped silver metal combined with ironwood" (Hougart 2020, p. 8). The shop made more than jewelry. "Over the years, much commercially prized flatware and METALWARE has been produced by native smiths under the shop hallmark of the White Hogan" (Baxter 2000, p. 188).

Writing in 2000, Baxter called the store "still active" (Baxter 2000, p. 188). Hougart records that it closed in 2006 (Hougart 2022, p. 374). Our sources don't say why it closed or who ran it in its later decades, and they give no street address in either town.

People

The owners. Hougart names John Bonnell (Hougart 2022, p. 374), and Baxter names John and Virginia Bonnell as owners (Baxter 2000, p. 188). George Kee's entry calls it "John Bonnell's White Hogan Silver shop" (Hougart 2020, p. 45). Our sources say nothing about the Bonnells' lives before 1946.

Kenneth Begay (Navajo, 1913–1977) was one of the shop's first two silversmiths (Hougart 2022, p. 374) and, in both accounts, a partner. Baxter writes that he "was particularly known for the fine sculpted metalware goods he made for the White Hogan (Scottsdale, Arizona) during the 1950s" (Baxter 2000, p. 108).

Allen Kee (Navajo, 1916–1972), Begay's cousin, was the other first silversmith (Hougart 2022, p. 374). He studied under Ambrose Roanhorse and was "a silversmith at Babbitt's Indian Shop in Flagstaff, Arizona in the late1930s." Hougart writes that he worked at White Hogan Silver "from 1946 until 1962, producing the classic White Hogan Silver style jewelry and assorted accessories, including boxes, in silver and sometimes combined with ironwood" (Hougart 2020, p. 44).

The Kee and Begay families.

  • George Kee (Navajo, ?–1980), Allen's brother: "His signed pieces were made in the White Hogan Silver style, using file-and stamp-work and sometimes combined silver with Ironwood. In about 1973 he left White Hogan Silver to start working at Arizona Turquoise Silver Company, also in Scottsdale" (Hougart 2020, p. 45).
  • Ivan Kee (Navajo, 1936–1982), another brother, specialized in "cast jewelry and nugget work, but also produced flat ware and hollowware." He also worked for Atkinson's Trading Post in Scottsdale (Hougart 2020, p. 46).
  • Anthony Kee, George Kee's son, is on Hougart's roster of the shop's silversmiths (Hougart 2022, p. 374).
  • Johnny Mike Begay (Navajo, 1933–1987) was "a brother of Kenneth Begay, with whom he worked as a silversmith at the White Hogan Silver shop." He also made "some flatware and boxes" (Hougart 2020, p. 12).
  • Harvey Begay (Navajo, 1938–2009), Kenneth's son: "While still in high school, he worked as a bench smith in jewelry silver smithing and design work with his father at White Hogan Silver" (Hougart 2020, p. 11).

The rest of the bench. Hougart's roster also names John G. Begay, Mike Carroll, Edison Cummings, Lowell Draper, Nicholas Gambino, Johnny King, Manuel Lewis, Sam Roanhorse, Johnson Todacheeny and Leroy Thomas (Hougart 2022, p. 374). A few have their own entries that mention the shop:

  • Michael Carroll, "Silversmith at the White Hogan beginning c.1951" (Hougart 2022, p. 78).
  • Sam Roanhorse (Navajo, 1916–1983) worked at the shop after his service in the Second World War. Hougart prints the years as "(1952-1952)", so we say around 1952 (Hougart 2020, p. 80).
  • Nicholas Gambino, "Silversmith at the White Hogan" (Hougart 2022, p. 123).
  • Manuel Lewis, "Silversmith at the White Hogan" (Hougart 2022, p. 186).
  • Edison Cummings, "Former silversmith at the White Hogan" (Hougart 2022, p. 98).
  • Leroy Thomas, "Worked for White Hogan Silver" (Hougart 2022, p. 308).

Our sources don't give dates of work at the shop for most of these smiths.

Marks and what to look for

Hougart's entry for the shop describes its mark: "Mark: A hogan (first used in 1948 at White Hogan Silver, the mark was reportedly acquired from Fred Peshlakai; usually with the initials of a silversmith and STERLING HAND MADE). Note: the White Hogan Silver hogan symbol has an open roof smoke hole and has three lines crossing the building (the top line clears the door)" (Hougart 2022, p. 374).

The hogan identifies the shop, and the initials beside it identify the smith. Hougart puts it plainly: "Several silversmiths in this book worked for the White Hogan Silver shop, and the White Hogan Silver shop mark may be next to their own stamp on the same piece" (Hougart 2020, p. 8). A hogan with no initials names the shop only. It can't be attributed to any one smith from the mark alone. Recorded pairings include:

  • Kenneth Begay: "In 1951 or 1952, he began marking his silver with the initials KB and, while working at the White Hogan Silver shop, with the stamp of a small hogan" (Hougart 2020, p. 13).
  • Allen Kee: "A K (Conjoined and embossed, usually with the White Hogan Silver shop mark; may also include HAND MADE STERLING)" (Hougart 2020, p. 44).
  • George Kee: "G K (Plus the White Hogan Silver symbol and HAND MADE STERLING)" (Hougart 2020, p. 45).
  • Johnny Mike Begay: "J M B (The letters may be conjoined. The initials are usually accompanied by Hand Made and Sterling when marked for White Hogan Silver)" (Hougart 2020, p. 12).
  • Michael Carroll: "MC (may be on a fringed plate; usually with the shop symbol for the White Hogan)" (Hougart 2022, p. 78).
  • Nicholas Gambino: "N G (in two font sizes; sometimes with the shop symbol for the White Hogan)" (Hougart 2022, p. 123).
  • Manuel Lewis: "M L (sometimes with the White Hogan symbol)" (Hougart 2022, p. 186).

The Peshlakai story is unproven. The shop entry says the hogan was "reportedly acquired from Fred Peshlakai." Hougart's own entry on Fred Peshlakai says: "Peshlakai reportedly used a 'hogan' stamp; no reputable evidence has surfaced to date" (Hougart 2022, p. 243). We keep it at "reportedly."

A hogan stamp doesn't date a piece. As of 2022, Hougart recorded that Lyndon B. Tsosie "Also produces a 'White Hogan' silver design line using stamps once used at the White Hogan Silver shop," and lists among his marks "LYNDON (and a hogan mark)" (Hougart 2022, p. 320). The old stamps outlived the shop, so a hogan on its own doesn't prove a piece was made there between 1946 and 2006.

Not every hogan is White Hogan. Two other businesses carry the word in their names. The Navajo Hogan "was owned and operated by Carl W. Luthey (1902-1975) and his wife Esther" and was "in operation from 1956 to the early 1970s" (Hougart 2022, p. 365). Three Hogans was a post near Lupton, Arizona that closed in the early 1990s, with the mark "3 H (inside a hogan)" (Hougart 2022, p. 370). Check any hogan mark against the design in White Hogan's entry: the open smoke hole and the three crossing lines, the top one clearing the door.

Legacy

Baxter gives the shop a large place in the trade's history: "This landmark shop was the impetus for an important change in the way that Southwestern Indian jewelers and Indian traders, or DEALERS, do business." She continues: "Such arrangements soon became more common in the region and provided native silversmiths … with the means to advance economically and artistically" (Baxter 2000, p. 188). In her entry on Begay, his work there "created new economic opportunity for native smiths" (Baxter 2000, p. 13).

Margery Bedinger, in her history Indian Silver, used it as a yardstick for a later Hopi venture: "In 1962 the Hopi brothers Emory and Wayne Sekquaptewa organized a quality silver shop called Hopi Crafts similar in aims to the White Hogan in Scottsdale" (Bedinger 1973, p. 209). That shop has its own page: Hopicrafts.

Sources

  1. Baxter, Paula A., with Allison Bird-Romero. Encyclopedia of Native American Jewelry. Oryx Press, 2000. pp. 13, 108, 188.
  2. Bedinger, Margery. Indian Silver: Navajo and Pueblo Jewelers. 1973. p. 209.
  3. Heard Museum, Billie Jane Baguley Library and Archives. Native American Artists Resource Collection: General Files thesaurus. 2024.
  4. Hougart, Bille. 100 Collectible Native American Silversmiths and Their Hallmarks. 2020. pp. 8, 11, 12, 13, 44, 45, 46, 80.
  5. Hougart, Bille. Native American and Southwestern Silver Hallmarks, 5th ed. 2022. pp. 78, 98, 123, 186, 243, 308, 320, 365, 370, 374.

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