Charlie Bitsui — Navajo/Diné Silversmith Hallmark
Navajo/Diné · documented in the T.Skies hallmark library
Charlie Bitsui (1916–deceased; Navajo) was active from the 1920s through the 1960s. His techniques included stamp work, set stones, nuggets, inlay, cast work, bracelets, pins, miniatures, and boxes. He worked as a jeweler near Zuni for the trading post owned by Charles Kelsey.
The Hougart record further notes that he worked for C. G. Wallace, alongside Ike Wilson. The 1940 census lists Bitsui living in Apache, AZ, near Zuni Pueblo. A 1975 Sotheby/Parke Bernet auction catalog listed him as "Charles Bitsui." He was the brother of Katherine Wilson, wife of Ike Wilson.
An important attribution note: a flower stamp documented in the Hougart record was recorded next to a known C. G. Wallace arrowshop mark, and may have been used by Charlie Bitsui — though other smiths may also have used the flower stamp.
The mark
A flower stamp is attributed to Charlie Bitsui in the Hougart record, with the note that the flower stamp was recorded next to a known C. G. Wallace arrowshop mark. Attribution is documented with the caveat that other smiths may also have used this stamp.
References
- Hougart, Bille. Native American and Southwestern Silver Hallmarks, 5th ed. Washington, DC: BilleHougartBooks, 2022.
- Adair, John. The Navajo and Pueblo Silversmiths. University of Oklahoma Press, 1944. (Cited in Hougart 5e footnote 38.)
- Cirillo, 1992 (cited in Hougart 5e).
- Chalker, 2004 (cited in Hougart 5e).
- Bedinger, Margery. Indian Silver: Navajo and Pueblo Jewelers. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1973. Cited by printed page. Statements describe conditions as of 1973.
- 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.
- 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.
Know more about this artist? Contact T.Skies.
From the Library: Bedinger, Indian Silver (1973)
1973 primary source. Anything described as current here describes 1973, not today.
According to Bedinger (1973, p. 38), in 1937 John Adair engaged the unusually skillful Navajo smith Charlie Bitsui, then living at Zuni, to make a silver tobacco canteen using an old one as a model; the Zuni trader wanted more, other smiths copied the idea, and canteens shown at the Inter-Tribal Ceremonial at Gallup sold to white buyers, though they did not catch on with Navajo buyers. [1]
From the Library: Adair, The Navajo and Pueblo Silversmiths (1944)
1944 primary source. Anything described as current here describes 1944, not today.
Adair (1944) recorded that in 1937 he asked Charlie Bitsui, a Navajo smith then working at Zuñi, to copy an old tobacco canteen borrowed from Ramah:
“Charlie had made but one canteen before, and he found the work quite difficult, although he is a very skilled smith.”
— Adair (1944), p. 52 [2]
According to Adair (1944, p. 52), the trader found the finished canteen so pleasing that he had Charlie make several more. [2]
Adair (1944) on the canteen he used as a model in 1938:
“I asked Tom to make one and showed him the canteen that had been made by Charlie Bitsui, one of the Navajo smiths who work at Zuñi.”
— Adair (1944), p. 67 [2]
Adair (1944) on the form itself:
“The tobacco canteen is the most complicated of all the pieces made by the Navajo smiths.”
— Adair (1944), p. 67 [2]
According to Adair (1944, p. 79), Charlie Bitsui's home hogan was twenty-five miles north of Zuni near Manuelito, where he learned the craft from his grandfather, his mother's father, more than twelve years before Adair met him; about eight years before, he had come to Zuni to work. [2]
According to Adair (1944, p. 79), at Zuni Charlie lived in a modernized hogan owned by the trader Charles Kelsey, for whose post he worked, with a wooden floor, windows and a long workbench, and a fifteen-year-old relative, Francis Yazzie, was learning the craft as his helper for ten dollars a month. [2]
Adair (1944) on Charlie's style as he saw it in the late 1930s:
“On the other hand, Charlie took great pleasure in stamping with his dies, of which he had many, and he could not resist using them on every occasion.”
— Adair (1944), p. 81 [2]
According to Adair (1944, p. 83), the Navajo smiths working at Zuni were then professionals who earned their whole living from the craft; Charlie averaged one hundred dollars a month and often had to rush the traders' orders, which Adair, not any lack of skill, blamed for the small flaws in his canteen. [2]
According to Adair (1944, p. 85), Charlie's wife told him that Charlie had taught her silversmithing two years earlier and that she could make rings, bracelets and conchas on her own, though she usually helped him; Charlie had also taught his three sisters. [2]
According to Adair (1944, p. 112), in the late 1930s Charlie Bitsui was among the Navajo smiths who earned about $1,000 a year from silver. [2]
Adair (1944, p. 195) also listed Charlie Bitsui among the Navajo silversmiths of 1940. [2]
From the Library: Schaaf, American Indian Jewelry I (2003)
2003 primary source. Anything described as current here describes 2003, not today.
Schaaf (2003) recorded his collaborators and a hallmark:
“(collaborated sometimes with Leo Poblano, Pat Kelsey, Maggie Bitsui, Francis Yazzie), (hallmark - flower blossom)”
— Schaaf (2003), p. 88 [3]
Schaaf (2003, p. 177) recorded that the Zuni mosaic and channel inlay jeweler Lambert Homer, Sr., who worked for C.G. Wallace, sometimes collaborated with Charlie Bitsui in about the 1930s. [3]
This profile is maintained in support of Native American silversmiths and compiled from published references. See something inaccurate, or want to add to it? Contact us.
Name card shown; hallmark photo to come.