Glossary of Southwest & Native American Jewelry Terms

Compiled by Mateo James · T.Skies Jewelry

0–9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z

0–9

800 silver

Silver alloy of 800 parts silver in a thousand, so 20 percent is other metal. Also written 800-fine (June 2013, p. 60).

A

abalone

A mollusk with a flat shell lined with iridescent mother-of-pearl, found in the waters off Mexico and the United States. Zuni jewelers use it in inlay and mosaic work, where its whitish ground flashes blue, green and red (Lund 1976, p. 149; Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 1).

agate

A semiprecious gemstone consisting of a hard vareiety of chalcedony often found in a wide range of colors.

alloy

Two or more metals combined; the mix often differs in behavior and appearance from the metals it is made of. Silver and gold are usually alloyed to make them workable and durable, as sterling is silver hardened with copper (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 2; Turnbaugh 2007, p. 91).

almogen

A mineral used by early Navajo smiths in finishing silver, identified for Washington Matthews as a hydrous sulphate of alumina. The sources disagree on what it did. Matthews (1883) records Navajo smiths dissolving it in water in a metal basin, sometimes with salt, then boiling the heated silver in the solution until it turned very white. In his account it is a blanching agent, not a flux. Adair (1944) also lists it, with rock salt, for whitening. Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) describe it as a local paste-like soldering flux of the 1870s and 1880s, noting that commercially produced borax pastes became available after 1885 (Matthews 1883, p. 175; Adair 1944, pp. 19, 82; Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 56).

Ancestral Puebloan (historically called Anasazi)

The prehistoric Pueblo peoples of northern Arizona and New Mexico, long called Anasazi. Dubin (1999) names "ancestral Pueblo (formerly called Anasazi)" as one of the three major cultures archaeologists have defined in the Southwest, with the Hohokam and Mogollon. Chambless & Ryan (2021) call Anasazi a Navajo name; it is glossed as "ancestors of our enemies" (Chambless & Ryan) and as "the ancient ones" (Baxter & Bird-Romero). Wright (2003), under the spelling "Anazi," glosses it as "Prehistoric Pueblo Indians of northern Arizona and New Mexico." See Hohokam, Mimbres (Dubin 1999, p. 466; Chambless and Ryan 2021, p. 26; Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 2; Wright 2003, p. 132).

annealing

Treating metal with heat to change its physical properties for design and workability.

Antique

A piece at least a hundred years old, by long-standing trade convention. Like "vintage" it has no definition in the FTC Jewelry Guides, so an antique claim rests on the documentation behind it — construction, materials, provenance — and not on the word.

anvil

Any hard surface a smith hammers against. Early Southwest smiths used whatever was solid and to hand — a smooth rock, a cut length of railroad rail, the head of a sledge or a large bolt.

Apache Mountain Spirit Dancer

The masked spirits of the Mountain People, who come to the Apache as dancers; also called Crown Dancers, and "gan" in Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000). The dancer is one of the most popular design motifs in Southwestern jewelry, usually done in inlay on pendants, pins and rings, and it is made not only by Apache jewelers but by Navajo and Zuni jewelers too. Bassman & Bassman (2006) record it in Zuni inlay rings, bracelets and belt buckles (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 4; Bassman and Bassman 2006, pp. 16, 20, 31). Dubin (1999) spells the name gaan, for the Chiricahua Apache mountain spirits (Dubin 1999, p. 27).

appliqué

An element of a design that accents the main design feature.

Appraisal

Professional valuation of a jewelry item.

argillite

A soft, slate-like stone. Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) describe it as a form of slate containing graphite and kaolin. It is best known from Northwest Coast carving: Dubin (1999) dates Haida argillite carving for sale to non-Natives to the early nineteenth century. In the ancestral Southwest it was one of many materials worked into adornment, alongside wood, bone, jet, travertine and the far more important turquoise and white shell. As of 2000, Baxter notes that black plastic is used to imitate it. See pipestone (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, pp. 4–5; Dubin 1999, pp. 417, 466).

arranged cluster

Arranged clusters are oriented in a repeating circular pattern starting with a center stone then encasing the center stone with geometrically measured “rows” of stones matching in size and shape.

arrow

An arrow or arrowhead stamped or applied on silver. In Southwest jewelry it is a trader's motif: Adair (1944) dates it to about 1895, Frank (1990) to about 1900, and Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) write that traders deliberately urged it on Native smiths, so that much tourist jewelry carries arrows "devoid of any spiritual context." June (2013) notes that to the American public of the early 1900s arrows simply "signified Indians." The meanings on souvenir-era symbol charts (arrow for protection, crossed arrows for friendship) were, in Adair's words, "sales promotion rather than fact." Baxter adds that arrows can carry real meaning for their makers depending on their heritage, especially among Woodlands and Plains peoples (Adair 1944, pp. 22, 104; Frank 1990, p. 105; Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, pp. 5–6; June 2013, pp. 75, 77, 144; Lund 1976, p. 51; Bahti 1989, p. 6).

Art Jewelry

Individually made, one-of-a-kind or limited edition pieces.

assembly-line mass production

One of three product types Lund distinguished in 1976, between handmade and machine work: pieces on which several workers each do only a small part, sometimes assembling components made elsewhere. Lund held that all three types are legitimate if sold for what they are (Lund 1976, p. 15).

ATADA

The Authentic Tribal Art Dealers Association, a trade body of tribal-art dealers and collectors. Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) give the name as Antique Tribal Art Dealers Association and describe it as "a professional organization started in 1988 to promote the business of selling and collecting antique tribal arts of the world, including Native American." ATADA describes itself as "an international association of tribal arts dealers, auction houses, museums and collectors dedicated to establishing and maintaining the highest standards of ethics, integrity and responsible collecting practices." (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 3; ATADA, "What is ATADA.org?").

Authenticity Certificate

Proof a piece was made by a verified artist.

avanyu

The water serpent of the Tewa-speaking pueblos; Avanyu is its Tewa name (Baxter & Bird-Romero 2000). It is drawn as a horned, wavy serpent, sometimes with lightning from its mouth and clouds above its back, and it guards springs and other water sources. It is best known on San Ildefonso and Santa Clara pottery. Bunzel (1929) found it the most frequent design at San Ildefonso and records that it came from a ceremonial object, and Tryk (1993) shows a mid-1960s bowl by Maria Martinez and Popovi Da decorated with it. In jewelry its sinuous form becomes an elongated, wavy line (Baxter), and Frank (1990) shows avanyu figures on a silver comb. The Zuni feathered serpent is a different figure; see Kolowisi. Also called water serpent or horned serpent (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 188; Bunzel 1929, p. 46; Tryk 1993, p. 100; June 2013, p. 91; Frank 1990, p. 55).

awl

A pointed iron or steel tool for marking, scratching or punching metal. Matthews (1883) saw Navajo smiths cut a paper pattern, lay it on the silver, and trace its outline with an awl. Early smiths used awls together with files for decoration; Adair (1944) describes the awl's line as a featherstitch so thin and shallow that it does not stand out from the silver the way stamped designs do. Once designed stamps arrived, the awl went out of use as a decorating tool, though Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) note that many contemporary jewelers still use it. See scratch engraving (Matthews 1883, p. 174; Adair 1944, pp. 21, 26; Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 6; Lund 1976, p. 149).

azurite

A deep blue copper carbonate, often found intergrown with green malachite. It is softer than turquoise and is used in inlay and in cabochons.

B

backing

A strong base to reinforce the back side of a stone.

bail (bale)

The bail or bale is a loop or hook that connects a pendant to another piece of jewelry. Traditionally the bail is an independent piece however in Native American jewelry the bail can be completely attached to the pendant.

band

The encircling body of a ring. Used loosely for a ring with no set stone.

bandolier pouch

A leather pouch decorated with silver buttons, carried on a strap over the shoulder. Also called a bandolier bag. Frank (1990) notes that by about 1900 these bags were becoming mainly decorative rather than carried for personal items (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 7; Frank 1990, p. 169).

bangle

An early style bracelet that is a large heavy wire or shank that is decorated with stamp or file work.

barrel clasp

A two-part clasp that screws together into a barrel shape, the seam concealed in the profile.

barrette

A hair clasp with a sprung or hinged bar on the reverse. One of the newer forms Southwest smiths took up in the twentieth century, alongside hair combs, tie tacks and money clips.

bayeta

A fine, bright scarlet cloth that Navajo weavers unraveled and rewove into their blankets. Writing in 1910, the Franciscan Fathers described it as "a very bright scarlet cloth, much finer and more brilliant than the scarlet of the Indians," first brought into Navajo country from Mexico by the Spaniards, and wrote that "the Navaho unraveled this cloth and rewove it into their blankets." By their time it had been wholly replaced by Germantown yarn and aniline dyes. Frank (1990) writes that after the United States took over New Mexico in 1846, the old Spanish practice of giving goods to Native leaders continued, with bayeta among the goods given in the Southwest. See Germantown (Franciscan Fathers 1910, pp. 232, 244; Frank 1990, p. 5).

bead

A small decorative object that can be strung by a pierced hole in its structure.

bead cap

A small shaped cup seated against the end of a bead, framing it and finishing the point where it meets the strand.

bead mold

A steel bar with circular depressions of various sizes: the female die used in making buttons and beads (Adair 1944, p. 82). Matthews (1883) calls this block a "matrix" and its round-pointed bolt a "die." See doming (Matthews 1883, p. 174).

bead work

Bead work or beaded jewelry uses strung beads of stone or shell. Beadwork is most commonly seen on necklaces however can be found on just about every type of jewelry. There are many different types of beads and several things that they can be strung on. Beads can be made from gemstones, natural organic materials, metals, glass, or plastic in different shapes and sizes. Most commonly beads are natural stone nuggets and finely cut shell disk beads called heishi. In Native American jewelry, beads are strung on woven thread string, metal cable, or plastic. Historically bead jewelry can be found on classical organic fibers from plants such as yucca, which are very rare but can still be found.

beading wire

Fine multi-strand steel cable, usually nylon-coated, used to string beads where thread would abrade through. Commonly called tigertail.

bear paw

The bear, or its paw or claw, as a design. Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) call the bear a powerful life force to virtually all Native peoples of North America, and the paw a symbol of its potency. On Southwest jewelry it is most often a clan emblem or hallmark. Wright (2003) explains that Hopi silversmiths' marks are mostly clan symbols, and Bedinger (1973) lists the bear among the clan marks of the Hopi Guild smiths around 1949. It is a staple of Hopi overlay, on buckles, pendants and rings, and the bear also appears as a pendant and as the standing center figure of Zuni fetish necklaces. Meanings differ by source. Dubin (1999) records the Hopi bear paw as a symbol of strength, but Baxter calls the popular "inner strength" reading probably not authentic, and the souvenir chart's "good omen" (June 2013) is a dealer's claim (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, pp. 10–12; Wright 2003, pp. 53, 69; Bedinger 1973, p. 203; Dubin 1999, p. 541; June 2013, p. 77).

bellows

The smith's air pump for the forge. Matthews (1883) describes the common Navajo bellows as "a tube or bag of goatskin, about twelve inches in length and about ten inches in diameter," tied at one end to its nozzle and nailed at the other to a wooden disk that held the valve. The disk had one arm above for a handle and one below for a support, and the bellows was worked by horizontal movements of the arm. Air reached the fire through a fireproof channel moulded in mud around a stick that was then withdrawn; Matthews calls it the "tweer" (tuyere). By 1944 Adair found that the goatskin bellows had disappeared, replaced by the manufactured heart-shaped bellows the traders introduced. At Zuni he recorded a double bellows of buffalo hide worked by a single handle (Matthews 1883, pp. 172–173; Adair 1944, pp. 17, 131).

belt

A band that fits around a person's waist traditionally made to support pants. This item of clothing is not only used for utility but also for fashion. In the Native American jewelry industry the buckle or band can be decorated with precious metal and gemstones. The most common style features a leather band decorated with a series of sterling silver oval plaques called conchos.

bench beads

A craftwork type handmade bead when at artist takes two prefabricated metal half bead shells, decorates them and fixes them together.

bench-work

Silver jewelry made in city shops by semi-machine, assembly-line methods, with smiths working at benches. The Indian Arts and Crafts Board's standards for the Government mark, as reprinted by Wright (2003), said Indian craftsmen could not compete in price "with factory output, machine output, and 'bench-work' semi-machine output." Writing in 1944, Adair described firms in Albuquerque and Santa Fé that used Indian labor with punches and drop presses, where "silversmiths work at long benches and make jewelry in a regular assembly-line manner." For the Pueblo smith in the city bench-shops, he wrote, "the craft has become a full-time, factory worker's job." See Government mark, Handmade (Wright 2003, p. 128; Adair 1944, pp. 117, 189).

beveled

A stone that is cut on a slant.

bezel

A metal strip that serves as the side walls of gemstone housing to hold the stone in place.

bezel cup

A bezel made as a cup, sometimes simply called a "cup." June notes that hybrid flat-plate bracelets were the first to carry them (June 2013, p. 105).

bezel setting

A setting in which a strip of metal wraps the full edge of the stone. See bezel.

bicurvate

A design of two long, leaf-like curves set back to back, raised from the back of the silver with dies. H. P. Mera named it "the bicurvate leaf-shaped unit of design," as quoted by Bedinger (1973), who saw it often on early pieces with the edges of the curves worked in repoussé to form an undulating border. Branson (1977) shows the matched male and female bicurvate dies, and notes that early buckle designs of this kind were hammered into a hollow in a wooden block. See embossing (Branson 1977, pp. 27, 29; Bedinger 1973, p. 68).

blanching

Whitening silver after its last heating by removing the dark fire coat. Navajo smiths used rock salt, alum, and sulphuric or muriatic acid for it (Adair 1944, pp. 60, 145). Matthews (1883) records almogen, a local mineral, used for the purpose (Matthews 1883, p. 175).

blanks

Pieces of metal cut from sheet before forming (see sheet cutter). Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) also record the word for silver settings made by Navajo smiths and then set with stones by Zuni or other Pueblo lapidaries (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 116). Matthews (1883) calls the discs cut for doming "planchets." (Matthews 1883, p. 177).

block turquoise

At T.Skies we use this term for: a manufactured block that is cut into “stones.” Some block is turquoise chips and fragments bonded with epoxy, which the IACB (2010, p. 2) calls blocked (“chips and fragments are mixed with epoxy to form blocks for cutting”); some is synthetic resin colored with dyes, with little or no turquoise in it, made to mimic the look of famous mines; that kind is really an imitation, not turquoise. Either way it does not have the same characteristics as solid turquoise and needs special care. Ask what is in it.

bloodstone

A dark green chalcedony flecked with red iron oxide. Used as an inlay material rather than as a set stone.

blowpipe

The early smith's tube for directing a flame onto the work. Navajo smiths made their own, usually by hammering thick brass wire into a flat strip and bending it into a tube. By 1944 Adair found most smiths using a gasoline torch instead (Adair 1944, pp. 18, 57).

boiled silver

Ingot silver melted past its ideal molten stage, to a boil. As Coulter told June, boiled silver can trap air bubbles as it cools (June 2013, p. 128, citing Lane Coulter).

bola

A variant spelling of bolo, used for the same slide-and-cord necktie. Both spellings appear throughout the literature and refer to the same object. See bolo tie.

bolo tie

A western style necktie consisting on a decorative slide clasp pendant centerpiece strung on braided leather cords. Also spelled bola tie.

bolo tips

The decorated metal sheaths finishing the two cord ends of a bolo tie. Also called aiglets, from the same word as the tip of a shoelace.

bone

Animal bone used as a jewelry material, mainly for beads. Manley (1975) records bone as a common substitute for shell in the late 1920s and 1930s, often cut as long, rounded, almost oblong pieces drilled at the small end for stringing. As of 2000, Baxter & Bird-Romero note that plastic or wood imitations of bone are used in revival-style work. See hairpipe (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 17; Manley 1975, p. 82).

bowguard

A leather armpiece that protects the arm from the bow string often decorated with silver.

box chain

A chain of square links joined face to face, reading as a continuous row of small cubes.

box clasp

A clasp in which a folded metal tongue is pushed into a hollow box and springs open to lock. Traditional on strung bead necklaces, where the box can carry stones and become part of the design.

bracelet

A piece of jewelry worn on the arm or wrist.

brass

An alloy of copper and zinc. Adair (1944) records that both Navajo and Zuni smiths made jewelry of brass and copper before they learned silversmithing, back to about 1830–40. The first Navajo bracelets were lengths of heavy brass or copper wire bent to the wrist. Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) explain why brass fell out of favor: it is a soft metal that does not hold stamped designs well (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 19; Adair 1944, pp. 36, 121).

breastplate

A chest ornament of rows of long, tube-shaped beads. Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) write that a typical breastplate "consisted of two rows of long, tube-shaped bone beads (known as hair pipes) attached in the middle by a row of shorter bones or circular beads," wide enough to cover the chest. Dubin (1999) describes rib-bone and hairpipe breastplates of long tubular beads "strung diagonally or horizontally on buckskin cords in two or more vertical rows." See hairpipe, pectoral (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 21; Dubin 1999, p. 43).

brilliant cut

A faceted cut of triangular and kite-shaped facets arranged to return the maximum light through the top of the stone.

brooch

A piece worn fastened to cloth by a hinged pin and catch. The Southwest trade more often says "pin."

buckle

A clasp like hinged pin used for fastening two ends of a strap.

buffalo

The buffalo as a jewelry design, shown in full profile or as a head, mostly on belt buckles, pins and pendants (Baxter & Bird-Romero 2000). Its deepest significance is among the central and northern Plains peoples, and Dubin (1999) describes it as a symbol of cultural as well as physical survival, revived in contemporary Plains art. Baxter notes it is used well beyond the Plains, from the Hopi to the Yurok. The owned books give no Southwest meaning, but they show it in Hopi overlay pendants and pins (Bassman 1993) and in Zuni and Navajo fetishes and inlay (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 22; Dubin 1999, pp. 238, 274; Bassman 1993, p. 34; Schiffer 1996, p. 127).

buffing

Polishing a finished piece with lightly abrasive compounds to raise its shine (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 22).

burnisher

A tool used to push the bezel around a stone to hold it in place.

burnishing

Polishing metal by rubbing it with a smooth hardwood or metal tool, a burnishing stick. See burnisher (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 23).

butterfly

The small shaped spacer set between the conchas on a concha belt, named for its pinched waist and flared ends.

button

A small circular garment used to fasten or for decoration.

C

cable chain

The plainest chain: uniform oval links, each set at a right angle to the last. The default against which other chains are described.

cabochon

a cut and polished gemstone usually in a round or oval shape and flat on one side.

calcite

Calcium carbonate in crystaline form.

Calibrated Stones

Machine-cut to standard sizes for easy setting.

cannel coal

A black, coal-like material set like a stone. Adair (1944) lists it with malachite and garnet among the stones Navajo smiths set in rings and bracelets before turquoise became plentiful. Sources disagree on where it came from: Adair says these stones were found on the reservation, while Bedinger (1973) says Zuni smiths added cannel coal "from England." Older texts sometimes treat it as the same thing as jet. See jet (Adair 1944, p. 50; Tanner 1954, p. 30; Bedinger 1973, p. 195; Hodge 1910, p. 639).

carat

A unit used to measure weight. 5 Carats = 1 Gram

carding

The process of separating the wool fibers before spinning.

carinated

A bracelet with a triangular cross-section that rises to a ridge along the top, like the keel of a boat. Mera named the form, as Bedinger (1973) reports. Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) place the first carinated bracelets in the last quarter of the nineteenth century and note that most Native jewelers call them "triangle bracelets." Sources disagree on how the bar was made. Baxter says it was cast in a V-grooved mold. June (2013) says that before the early 1930s it was forged by pounding silver into a trough, a method older than the draw plate, and that this leaves a pounded inner face that commercial triangle wire lacks. Also called carination (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 28; June 2013, p. 150; Bedinger 1973, p. 90).

cast work

Casting style is jewelry made from cast metal. Casting is the process of heating and melting metal, and then pouring the molten metal into a mold to form the desired shape. There are basic types of casting used in Native American Jewelry; Tufa Casting, Sandcasting, and Machine casting. The end result cast can have different textures according to the type of material that was used as a mold.

centrifugal casting

Casting in a machine that spins the mold so that molten silver is forced into the cavity left by a burned-out wax model. Lund (1976) describes the machine and records that, as of 1976, the method was new among Native smiths and had caused "a fiery controversy." Bedinger (1973) and Stacey (1975) tie it to mass-produced channel work. As of 2000, Baxter & Bird-Romero note that channel compartments have been made by centrifugal casting since the 1970s and that buyers should be told when this is the case. Also called spin casting. See lost wax casting (Lund 1976, pp. 61, 129, 149–150; Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 30; Bedinger 1973, p. 210).

chain

A series of metal links used to hang or connect independent pieces of jewelry

chain work

Chain is not generally a style but a way to string, hang or connect other parts of jewelry. However, artists can sometime get creative with their chain work. Most of the time chains are found on necklaces to string pendants or as a terminal finish to give a little style to bead work necklaces. Chains can be either prefabricated or handmade. Handmade chains can take a long time as the artist has to individually create every link and connect them by hand. Handmade chains generally greatly increase the value of a piece.

chalcedony

A translucent quartz, usually gray or pale blue with a waxy, milky look. It is the quartz most often set in jewelry, usually cut as a cabochon; agate, carnelian and chrysoprase are varieties of it (Lund 1976, p. 150; Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 30).

chalchihuitl

The Aztec (Nahuatl) word for turquoise, which some sources say also covered jade. Woodward (1946) writes that the Aztecs "termed it chalchihuites, which word was also applied to jadeite." Chambless & Ryan (2021) call chalchihuitl "an Aztec word denoting both turquoise and jade, which the Pueblo tribes had adopted." Lowry (2002) gives the pronunciation chal-che-we'-tl. Also chalchihuite (Woodward 1946, p. 44; Chambless and Ryan 2021, p. 32; Lowry 2002, p. 2).

chalcosiderite

A member of the turquoise group in which iron takes the place of aluminum. It is one of the minerals most often mistaken for turquoise, and telling the two apart reliably takes a laboratory test.

chalk block turquoise

A type of block turquoise which fine natural, normally unsuable turquoise chalk is added to the resin mixture so that the material can be called real turquoise.

chalk turquoise

Pale, soft, porous turquoise that will not take a polish in its natural state. It is the grade most often stabilized, which is why "stabilized" on its own says nothing about the quality of the stone underneath.

channel

Walls of silver that create grooves to hold stones in place.

channel inlay

Channel is a more rare and traditional style. Channel inlay is where the artists use stripes of metal called channels to hold the stones in place. It is easily recognizable by the segmenting metal lines between the stones. The channels are often made first, and then stones are carefully measured and cut to fit between the channels. Most of the time, a type of epoxy is used to secure the stone for a more secure long term fit.

channel setting

A setting in which stones sit in a metal channel with no metal between them. See channel and channel inlay.

charoite

A rare silicate mineral that makes a beautiful purple color with cream white matrix.

chaser's pitch

The pitch used for chasing and repoussé work. Branson (1979) notes that it "may be purchased from the supplier or it can be made from ordinary dopping wax by adding a little beeswax and turpentine." Wilson (1912) gives a pitch for repoussé work made of pitch, rosin and plaster of Paris (Branson 1979, p. 62; Wilson 1912, p. 32).

chasing

In modern metalwork, decoration made by driving a punch along the surface with a hammer. The line looks engraved, but no metal is removed. Older writers use the word more loosely. Matthews (1883) calls the whole decorating stage "chasing": round dents struck with the rounded shank of a file, and figures made with a file point "pushed forward with a zigzag motion of the hand," which this glossary calls rocker engraving. Adair (1944) uses it for lines traced with an awl on the oldest pieces (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 30; Matthews 1883, pp. 176–177; Adair 1944, p. 37).

chemical oxidation

The use a chemical to cause oxidation.

chert matrix

Matrix made of chert, a hard dense silica, usually reading as black and holding a sharp edge against the turquoise. It describes what the matrix is made of rather than the pattern it makes.

chiaroscuro

The contrast of light and dark on silver: the darkened metal in the deep cuts and stamped areas against the bright high points kept clean by wear. The word is Italian ("light-dark"). Lund (1976) calls it Spanish, but that is a mistake. Bedinger (1973) treats it as part of the design that the smith "sees" before starting work, and warns that too zealous polishing can destroy it on an older piece. See oxidation (Bedinger 1973, pp. 106–107; Lund 1976, pp. 48, 150).

chip inlay

A technique in which recessed areas of a silver design are filled with epoxy and fragments of crushed turquoise, coral, jet or shell rather than with cut stone. It was first worked in the early 1960s by Navajo smiths including Tom Singer and other members of the Singer family ^[2], and fills the areas that plain overlay would have left dark. At T.Skies we count chip inlay as upcycled when it is made from our own cutting scrap. Chips set in epoxy do not have the same characteristics as solid stone and need special care.

chisel cut

Cutting metal with a metal chisel and hammer, also called cold cut (June 2013). Frank (1990) says that because saws "were not readily available until the turn of the century, all cutting on early work was done with a chisel," and that the cuts "were smooth and tapered in from top to bottom." See cold chisel (June 2013, p. 132; Frank 1990, p. 15).

choker necklace

A necklace that fits tightly around the neck.

chrysocolla

A copper silicate ranging through blue and green, frequently confused with turquoise. It is softer and is often cut with the quartz it forms in to make it workable.

chunk necklace

A necklace strung from large, irregular, minimally shaped turquoise nuggets rather than cut or matched stones.

clan emblem

A mark or motif that refers to the maker's clan, the family group to which many Native artisans belong. Baxter (2000) notes that some artists mark their jewelry with such a token, often as a hallmark such as an animal track or a sun symbol, and that many Woodlands and Southwestern artists use clan emblems as design motifs (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 32).

clasp

An interlocking device used for holding two things together.

Classic Era

The years 1880 to 1900, which many call the Classic Era of Indian jewelry making. The basics of the craft had been mastered, and design and variety flourished (Lund 1976, p. 24).

closed center

A concha with a solid, unpierced center, fastened to the belt by loops soldered to the back rather than by a slot through the face.

cloud

A rain-cloud design, made in two forms (Baxter & Bird-Romero 2000): a terraced, stepped shape, and a row of semicircles resting on a line. The second is still common in Pueblo needlepoint and petit point and in Hopi overlay. Hopi smiths use rain clouds, snow clouds and thunderheads as hallmarks (Wright 2003), and Frank (1990) reads cut-out stepped clouds on a ketoh of about 1910 as a sign of Pueblo origin. Sources disagree on the stepped form. Bunzel (1929) records Zuni potters naming "cloud steps," but argues that the "steps" designs come from ancient fret patterns and were not drawn as clouds. The souvenir-chart meaning "good prospects" is, as Baxter and Bahti (1989) both note, a trader's invention. Also called rain cloud, cloud terrace or cloud steps (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, pp. 32, 148; Bunzel 1929, pp. 24, 27, 108; Wright 2003, p. 118; Frank 1990, p. 155; Bedinger 1973, p. 206; Bahti 1989, p. 6; June 2013, p. 77).

cluster

The stone cluster design is another term that refers to the arrangement of the stones. The stones are placed in a non-linear fashion. There are two different types; arranged clusters and random clusters. The arranged cluster is the classical or traditional cluster design, it has been used for many generations by Navajo and Zuni jewelry artists.

cluster setting

A setting of many small stones grouped in one design. See cluster.

coin silver

Silver from melted down coins. Coins were fairly accessible to the general public and Native American silversmiths often melted down the coins as a base for their jewelry. Old coins ranged in silver purity from 75% to 95% until the early 19th century. In 1906 the US passed a law stating that coins had to be at least 90% pure silver. In 1964 the US stopped the use of silver in coins. Coin silver is generally assumed to be less pure than sterling silver or fine silver. The value of Native American jewelry made from coin silver can be actually more valuable. This is because it can be associated with the age of the vintage pieces. A piece of jewelry actually made with coin silver would have to be made prior to the act of 1964.

cold chisel

A hardened steel tool with a straight cutting edge, used to cut sheet and to chase lines into metal. It was the primary cutting tool of the earliest period of Navajo silverwork.

collar tab

A silver ornament for the collar points of the velvet and velveteen shirts worn by Navajo men and women, later adopted by other Southwestern peoples. Also called a collar corner ornament (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 34).

composite turquoise

At T.Skies we use this term for: turquoise or other stone scrap, such as cut-offs and clippings, compressed together with resin, often into a design, so the leftovers are used again. Spiny oyster scrap mixed with turquoise makes a spiny and turquoise composite. Composite does not have the same characteristics as solid turquoise and needs special care.

concha

From the Spanish for "shell." An oval or round silver plaque, worn in a series on a belt or a bridle, and by extension the belt itself. "Concho" is the same word in its Anglicized trade spelling; the older literature uses "concha." Welch (1973) says the circular hair plates of the northern Plains tribes "were the first concha belts, copied by the Navajos about 1870." (Welch 1973, p. 25).

concho

A round or oval decorative plaque. Also spelled concha, the older and more common form in the literature.

cones

Sterling silver pieces used in jewelry to create or transition a design.

connector

Any component joining two or more elements or strands, from a plain ring to a worked multi-hole plate.

contemporary

If the jewelry does not fit into one of these categories then we commonly call it contemporary or “new style”. When contemporary styles become more common then they usually acquire their own nomenclature and become part of its own category. Contemporary jewelry can vary extremely and can sometimes look futuristic or impractical. Native artists are always coming up with new interesting styles to add to the industry.

copper

a reddish brown metal that is used for jewelry making.

coral

Coral is considered an organic gemstone stone because it originates from the hardened tissue of a Coral Polyp. Corals are marine animals which are found in tropical oceans, they are an important in the support and creation of ocean reefs. Corals produce a hard skeleton made from calcium carbonate secretions. This hardened skeleton is what is collected and used to form the gemstone. Coral is found in many different colors it has become difficult collect many of the varieties due to the diminishing populations of coral. Coral reefs have become an endangered ecosystem and are strictly regulated. Some types of coral have been brought inland for farming and commercial use. One of the most modern and now commonly seen today is Chinese white coral which is stained red for a more natural look. This processed coral is shipped all over the world for jewel crafting and other arts. Coral jewelry has been found in many different cultures around the world. It comes in many different beautiful colors from black to white and from blue to red. Coral jewelry has a history of being strongly connecting with religious and spiritual meanings in the Italian, Chinese and Celtic cultures, it is also one treasure in the Buddhist scriptures. The southwestern Native American tribes quickly acknowledged the value of this jewel. Coral gems are softer than most other gemstones and can be easily shaped in to beads, center stones and other small shapes. It is seen in different types of jewelry that requires intricate sculpting such as inlay jewelry. Small samples of the gem can run up to $1000 per 1 mm diameter for some of the rare forms to about $5 at the low end. The market for coral is doing very well but the supply is slowly depleting which makes the prices for this precious gem continue to rise. Native Americans prefer to use red corals in their jewelry which are rare. Because natural red coral is becoming so scarce, some of the dyed processed gem is used to give that deep red look. One of the most valuable red versions is Oxblood Coral which is farmed in the Mediterranean. The pairing of its natural deep red color in contrast with a well selected turquoise stone can remarkably excaudate the blues and greens making it one of the most desired Native American styles.

Corn Maiden

A pan-Pueblo fertility and life-giving figure embodying corn as the sustaining crop, with distinct Hopi and Zuni traditions. She is carved as a fetish or set as a pendant in the form of a female figure with a corn-ear body, and is a common subject in Zuni fetish carving.

cotton wrap

A way of finishing a necklace with tightly wrapped cotton strands (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 40).

cowrie shell

A shell used in Zuni inlay. Bassman & Bassman (2006) picture it among the shells used in Zuni jewelry and show it inlaid with turquoise, coral and mother-of-pearl on earrings by Pitkin Natewa. Schaaf (2003) lists spotted cowrie among the materials of the Zuni jeweler Silas Ohmsatte (Bassman and Bassman 2006, pp. 5, 7; Schaaf 2003, p. 249).

craft work

Work assembled by hand from pre-made components rather than shaped from raw stock — bench beads, built from two prefabricated half shells, are the standard example. Under the FTC Jewelry Guides only work whose entire shaping and forming is done by hand from raw materials may be called handmade.

crimp bead

A soft metal bead squeezed flat over beading wire to secure a strand end without a knot.

crimp tube

A short soft metal tube used as a crimp. It grips over a longer span than a crimp bead and holds heavier strands more reliably.

crook (netsikanne)

A Zuni pottery design representing a crook. Bunzel (1929) recorded two readings from her Zuni informant: in 1924, the drumstick used by the religious fraternities; in 1925, a prayer for rain that "belongs to the societies." She shows it on Zuni water jars and bowls. No owned book records it in jewelry. Dubin (1999) lists "crooks" as a separate Hopi design element meaning wind or migration; that is a different people and a different word. Not to be confused with shepherd's hook, an ear wire (Bunzel 1929, pp. 94, 96, 110; Dubin 1999, p. 507).

Crow Mother (Angwusnasomtaka)

A Hopi wuya — one of the chief kachinas — regarded as a mother and leadership figure among them. She presides over the Powamu (Bean Dance) ceremony and guides children's initiation into Hopi religious life; her mask is white with black-tipped crow wings tied at the sides. Hopi carvers and silversmiths openly render her in cottonwood dolls and in silver.

crown

The top area of a faceted gem

crucible

A small container to melt silver in (Frank and Holbrook 1990, p. 203). Matthews (1883, p. 173) found the more careful Navajo smiths making their own of clay baked hard, "having three-cornered edges and rounded bottoms," about two inches in every dimension. Others melted their metal in suitable fragments of Pueblo pottery.

crystal

A mineral that has grown in a regular geometric structure with natural faces. The word is also used loosely in jewelry for cut leaded glass, which is not a crystal at all.

cuff

A jewelry bracelet that covers a fairly large part of the wrist.

cufflinks

A pair of fasteners joining the two sides of a French cuff, each with a decorated face and a hinged or fixed backing.

culet

A small facet at the very bottom of a gemstone.

Cultural Appropriation vs. Cultural Appreciation

Using vs. honoring cultural symbols; an important distinction for responsible buyers.

curb chain

A chain of interlocking links twisted and flattened so they lie flush in one plane rather than standing up.

curio

A commercial souvenir piece, as opposed to craft. Chambless & Ryan (2021) write of a market for American Indian jewelry "on two paths, craft and curio": craft was "the careful handmade design and production of a piece by one artist," whereas curio "was a commercial endeavor using techniques to mass produce items not associated with any one individual." Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) note that some metalware "may be classed as 'curios' or 'novelties'" made for the non-Indian consumer, and that tourist jewelry is "also known as souvenir or curio jewelry." See tourist jewelry (Chambless and Ryan 2021, p. 179; Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, pp. 109, 175).

cushion style inlay

Inlay in which each stone is ground flat a little above the silver and then rounded at the edges into a soft, cushion-like surface. Branson (1979) and Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) both describe it, and Baxter notes it is the trade's name for the form. Branson captions one bolo of this kind "cushion cut channel inlay." Baxter uses "cushion cut" for something else: a squared, round-cornered gem cut. See channel inlay (Branson 1979, p. 57; Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 41).

D

dangle

An earring whose ornament hangs and swings below the ear wire.

dealer

A seller of Native American arts, antique or contemporary. Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) define dealers as "the purveyors, or sellers, of antique and contemporary Native American arts," and write that "ethical dealers will be candid about what they know or do not know." Writing in 1944, Adair advised that "the best assurance of quality, for the novice, is in buying from reputable dealers who will guarantee the quality of the stones." He also used the word for dealers in turquoise, who sold stone to the traders already cut and polished. See ATADA, gallery, Indian trader (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 43; Adair 1944, p. 200).

deer

A deer figure on silver, pottery and inlay. On early Navajo silver it appears as a naturalistic deer on tobacco canteens collected before 1895, with a rabbit on the other side (Adair 1944; Frank 1990); Adair notes such canteens were made at soldiers' request. Bedinger (1973) records deer among the life forms Zuni artists always used, but which Navajo smiths made formerly only at the rare request of whites. Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) note Mimbres-derived deer on many Southwest pieces, including Hopi silver from the late 1930s onward. On Zuni pottery, Bunzel (1929) describes a stylized deer framed by scrollwork in its "house." The owned books give no settled meaning for the deer on jewelry. The souvenir chart's "plenty game" (June 2013) is a dealer's claim. See heartline (Adair 1944, pp. 12–13; Frank 1990, p. 69; Bedinger 1973, p. 190; Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 109; Bunzel 1929, p. 24; June 2013, p. 77).

denim lapis

A dyed, faded-blue grade of lower-quality lapis lazuli. Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) date it to the 1990s and describe it as a fashion color made to match denim clothing; they note that, as of 2000, it cost more and sold better than true lapis "despite its inferior properties." Bassman & Bassman (2006) show Zuni link bracelets in denim lapis made in 1998. Also called denim lazuli. See lapis (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 98; Bassman and Bassman 2006, p. 64).

dentalium

The slender, tooth-shaped shell of certain mollusks, also called tooth shell. It is strung as beads for necklaces and pendants and sewn onto garments. Among the peoples of California and the Northwest Coast, strung dentalia also served as a form of currency. Tryk (1993) notes that it is rarely seen on work sold at Indian Market today. Plural: dentalia (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 44; Tryk 1993, p. 196).

Depression jewelry

A dealers' and collectors' name for Santo Domingo jewelry of the 1930s, especially the mosaic thunderbird pendants made with improvised materials, such as pieces of phonograph records or automobile battery cases in place of jet or onyx (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 155).

diamond slot

An early concha style held to the belt by a bar with a triangular opening at either side for the leather to pass through; the two triangles together read as a diamond.

die

A steel tool used to raise or lower the surface of silver for decoration. Dies are sometimes cut in pairs, a male and a female, so the metal is formed between them (Frank and Holbrook 1990, p. 203). Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000, p. 45) add an earlier sense: an early rod made from scrap iron, much like a punch, with a decorative form engraved on one end. Matthews (1883, p. 174) uses the word in a narrower sense still, for the round-pointed bolt used in doming. See doming, die stamping.

die stamping

Working a design into silver with a shaped steel die under a hammer, either lowering the surface or raising it, depending on the die.

disk bead

A round flat bead in the shape of a disk or coin with a punctured hole in the center.

dog bracelet

A collectors' term. June suggests it comes from the dog design that the souvenir-jewelry company Tammen used: stamped by a die it looks like a horse, but as a flat appliqué it has noticeably short legs (June 2013, p. 81).

domed channel

Channel inlay in which each stone is cut to a high dome, so that the row looks like half-beads set into the silver. It is usually seen on narrow bracelets. Branson (1979) shows one bought in northern Arizona in 1955. See channel inlay (Branson 1979, p. 56; Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 30).

doming

Shaping a flat disc of silver into a hemisphere, for beads and buttons, by hammering it into a concave hollow with a round-ended punch. Matthews (1883) saw Navajo smiths make "metallic hemispheres for beads and buttons" in "a concave matrix by means of a round-pointed bolt which I will call a die." Both tools were made by the smiths themselves. One bar could hold many hollows of different sizes, and a single punch fitting the smallest served them all. The disc was worked through larger hollows first, to bring it gradually to shape. Later writers call the block a dapping block and the punch a dapping punch or die, but the names are not stable: Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) call the concave forms the dies. See bead mold (Matthews 1883, pp. 174, 177; Lund 1976, p. 123; Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, pp. 45–46; Branson 1977, p. 38).

Dontso

A Navajo figure, and the books disagree on what it is. Bassman (1997) gloss the Dontso figure as "a water figure" and show it on a cast and stamped bola tie by Chester Kahn. The Franciscan Fathers (1910) record dótso as "the Big Fly," one of the peoples of the Navajo emergence account, and in everyday speech a gossip or tale-bearer. No owned book reconciles the two (Bassman 1997, pp. 49, 76; Franciscan Fathers 1910, pp. 349, 441).

dop stick

A short rod to which a stone is cemented with wax so the lapidary can hold and turn it while grinding and polishing. Woodward (1946) describes pontil sticks made from ordinary wooden meat skewers (Woodward 1946, p. 46).

Double-Barred Cross

A stylized abstraction of the Zuni dragonfly (Shumakolowa) in which a second horizontal crossbar reads as the dragonfly's outstretched wings, carrying the same associations of rain and renewal. It is used as a simplified geometric pendant or repeated necklace motif, sometimes called a Pueblo cross.

doublet

A stone made by cementing a thin slice of turquoise to a backing of another material. Backing lets a thin or fragile stone be cut and set, and it increases the yield per pound of rough, so a doublet must be identified to the buyer.

Dragonfly (Shumakolowa)

Shumakolowa is the Zuni word for dragonfly, regarded as a messenger that carries prayers and a harbinger of rain and life. It is one of the most iconic Zuni motifs, rendered as pendants and earrings in silver with turquoise, coral, and shell inlay, and is sometimes abstracted as the double-barred cross.

draw plate

A plate of metal or bone drilled with a graduated series of tapered holes; wire is pulled through successively smaller holes to reduce its diameter. Also written drawplate (Tanner 1954, p. 25; Adair 1944, p. 47).

draw tongs

Heavy pincers used to pull wire through a draw plate. Wilson (1912) describes them on a shop draw-bench, where a winch pulls them along. Adair (1944) saw a Navajo smith work without a bench: he tied a rope around his waist, looped it to the tongs, and leaned back to draw the wire. See draw plate (Wilson 1912, pp. 230, 478; Adair 1944, p. 70).

drop

Any element that hangs free below the body of a piece — from a necklace, an earring or the arms of a naja.

drop press

A machine that drops or drives a heavy weight onto silver to stamp, shape or cut it in one blow; a drop hammer works the same way. June (2013) calls drop forging the dominant method of souvenir makers. She puts large-scale use in the late 1940s, but the machines are older in the trade: Adair (1944) already describes city shops using drop presses with Native labor, and June records power punches and drop hammers at the Maisel shop from the 1920s. June also notes that a pinch line around a piece's middle is the signature of a drop hammer or hydraulic press (June 2013, pp. 16, 60, 122, 131–132; Adair 1944, p. 117).

Dry Creek

The Dry Creek turquoise mine is located outside of Austin, Nevada. The color of Dry Creek turquoise makes it unique among natural American stones. The turquoise is a very light blue/green, almost off-white.

due bill

A trader's credit note, good for goods at the store. Adair (1944): "If payment is in trade and he does not want to buy anything at this time, a due bill will be given to him, with which he can buy goods at another time." June (2013) writes that "many traders issued their own due-bills, used in exchange for consumable goods." An interview in Bahti (2007) glosses it: "half cash and half due bill [trade credit]." Also due-bill. See trader tokens, trading post (Adair 1944, p. 142; June 2013, p. 25; Bahti 2007, p. 46).

dyeing

The use of colored dye to enhance the color of a substance or make it more uniform. At T.Skies we count stone treated this way as enhanced.

E

eagle dancer

A Pueblo dance figure and a popular subject on Indian jewelry, recognized by a colorful headdress and winged plumage that reaches past the hands. It is often rendered in mosaic inlay; Zuni jewelers set it in turquoise and in channel and mosaic work (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 48; Bassman and Bassman 2006, p. 14; Lund 1976, p. 71).

ear back

The fitting that secures a post behind the ear — a friction nut, a screw, or a locking back. Also called an ear nut.

ear post

A straight rigid pin passing through the piercing, secured behind the ear by a separate back. Also called simply a post.

ear wire

The wire that passes through the piercing and carries the body of an earring.

earring

An article of jewelry that is worn on the ears

Earring Back Types

Posts, hooks, or clips.

Easter Blue

The Easter Blue turquoise mine is a small claim located in southwestern Nevada. The mine is found in the Royston Mining District, along with many other active turquoise producing claims. The Easter Blue mine was initially claimed in 1907.

eggshell matrix

Another name for spiderweb matrix — host rock forming an even, enclosed web across the face of the stone. It is the rarest and most valued matrix pattern. See spiderweb.

embossing

Raising a design in relief by striking the silver from the back. Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000), Lund (1976) and Branson (1977) all describe a male die driven into a matching female die from the reverse side, which leaves raised domes, stars or crescents on the front. June (2013) notes the matched die pairs are also called Tucker tools. Baxter adds that the early tools were mostly made from scrap iron. See repousse, bicurvate (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 49; Lund 1976, pp. 29, 151; Branson 1977, p. 28; June 2013, p. 132).

emery paper

Paper coated with a fine abrasive, used to polish metal. Matthews (1883) credits the recent introduction of "fine files and emery-paper" with much of the improvement in Navajo silverwork. Because it was bought and costly, it was kept for the finishing touches; the first polishing was done with powdered sandstone, sand or ashes. Adair (1944) watched Tom Burnsides take out the scratches left by coarse emery paper with fine emery cloth (Matthews 1883, pp. 171, 175; Adair 1944, p. 78).

end cap

A fitting closing the end of a strand or a length of wire and providing the attachment point for the clasp. See terminal caps.

engraving

Cutting shallow lines into a metal surface with a sharpened hand tool, a burin or graver. For the two engraving styles found on early Southwest silver, see rocker engraving and scratch engraving (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 50).

enhanced turquoise

At T.Skies we use this term for: turquoise that has been changed, either dyed (color added), hardened (for example by the Zachery process), or both. The IACB (2010, p. 2) uses “enhanced” more narrowly, for “a patented process to darken the color of low or medium grade turquoise to imitate a higher grade color.”

epoxy

A synthetic resin adhesive that hardens chemically. In inlay it holds stones in place and fills chip inlay, where Branson (1977) describes it dropped over stone fragments and left to penetrate. Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) note that before the 1940s inlay was set in resin or pine pitch, with epoxy coming in later. Lowry (2010) records epoxy backing on thin stones from the 1950s, and Chambless & Ryan (2021) tie its arrival to the spread of stabilized turquoise. See chip inlay, stabilized turquoise (Lund 1976, p. 151; Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, pp. 30–31; Lowry 2010, p. 167; Chambless and Ryan 2021, p. 182; Branson 1977, p. 56).

etched inlay

Inlay in which a picture or design is etched into the surface of the set stone or shell, so the drawing sits in the stone rather than in the metal around it.

Ethically Sourced

Materials obtained in a way that respects both people and the environment.

eye pin

A straight wire with a loop already formed at one end, used to build linked segments and chains of beads.

F

fabrication

"The process of assembling a piece of jewelry out of its various components" (Baxter & Bird-Romero 2000). Jacka (1995) describes it as constructing jewelry by hand: "Pieces are cut from sheets of gold or silver, then soldered together." Also: fabricated (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 52; Jacka 1995, p. 62).

facet

A flat polished surface of a gem

faceted

Cut with flat polished planes arranged to return light, as against a cabochon, which is domed and unfaceted. See facet.

fakes and forgeries

Jewelry sold as something it is not. Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) call fakes and forgeries "one of the most difficult issues affecting the Native American jewelry industry," and write that the Indian jewelry market "has been subjected to both flagrant and subtle fraud." Writing in 2013, June noted that "misrepresentation comes in the form of hallmarks and artist reputation." (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 52; June 2013, p. 141).

farming out

Supplying silver and cut, polished turquoise to a trading post to be made into jewelry by its smiths. Adair dates it to 1899, when Herman Schweizer of the Fred Harvey Company took stones and silver to a trading post at Thoreau, New Mexico, and asked for lighter jewelry for the tourist trade (Adair 1944, p. 25).

faustite

A member of the turquoise group in which zinc takes the place of copper, giving a yellow-green stone. It was first identified in 1953 at the Carico Lake Mine in Nevada and is sold as a cabochon material in its own right.

feather

A feather design, carved, cast, stamped or engraved, and a common form for dangling earrings and pendants (Baxter & Bird-Romero 2000). Baxter writes that feathers carry a connotation of freedom and flight and mark birds as travelers between the spiritual and physical worlds. Dubin (1999) notes that Southwestern peoples bring bird and feather images into every part of daily and sacred life. In Hopi overlay the prayer-feather design is common (Bassman 1993; Wright 2003). Feathers also serve as hallmarks, such as the doubled eagle-feather mark of a Hopi Sun Clan smith (Turnbaugh 2007). On Zuni pottery, Bunzel (1929) records that the feather patterns represent prayer sticks rather than birds. The souvenir chart's "chief" for eagle feathers (June 2013) is a dealer's claim. See pahos (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 54; Dubin 1999, p. 495; Wright 2003, p. 55; Bassman 1993, pp. 41–43; Turnbaugh 2007, p. 37; Bunzel 1929, pp. 24, 70; June 2013, p. 77).

felting

The process of soaking an kneading raw wool until it mats together into a fabric

fetish

An object, usually of stone or shell and most often carved as an animal, that is said to bring power and good fortune to its owner (Bassman & Bassman 2006), or in which a spirit is believed to dwell (Turnbaugh 2007). Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) write that such objects represent the spirits of guardian animals or beings, that Zuni carvers originated the practice and are known for the carvings they make for sale, and that in jewelry fetishes are primarily decorative. Zuni fetish necklaces string small carvings on heishi (Bassman and Bassman 2006, pp. 5–6; Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 54; Turnbaugh 2007, p. 91). Bahti (1989) dates the first fetish necklaces to the 1920s, and Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) date their popularity to the 1950s and 1960s. Bahti adds that the people who make and wear them do not regard them as fetishes in the traditional sense (Bahti 1989, p. 17; Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, pp. 54–55).

figaro chain

A curb variant with a repeating rhythm of links — typically three short followed by one long.

file

A tool used to shave or leave markings on a piece of jewelry.

filework

File work is very similar and also very simple. The artist will use a file sometimes along with a hammer in line markings into patterns along the metal base of the piece of jewelry. File work is also when using a file to shave or scratch the jewelry.

filigree

Wire that is used as applique.

findings

A small article of jewelry or piece of jewelry.

fine silver

99.9% pure silver.

fire coat

The thin black film that forms on silver in the heat of the fire. It is removed by blanching in acid, then brushing until the metal shines (Adair 1944, pp. 60, 145).

first phase

The first period of Southwestern Indian silver jewelry, 1868 to 1900. Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) call it "a historical term used to designate the first decades of experimentation and development in Southwestern Indian jewelry from 1868 to 1900." Frank (1990) gives the same dates for the first phase period. See transitional period (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 56; Frank 1990, p. 203).

flank

A decorative element of a jewelry that is on the side of another element.

flat bezel

A type of bezel that has no teeth.

flat inlay

Inlay in which each stone is fitted tightly into a groove and then ground flat until it is flush with the top of the groove (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 83).

flush setting

A setting in which the stone is sunk level with the surface of the metal and held by the metal burnished over its edge. Also called a gypsy setting.

fluted beads

Beads worked with ridges radiating from the center out to the soldered seam of each half, so the finished bead is grooved rather than smooth.

flux

A chemical, usually boric acid, used to keep silver from oxidizing during soldering (Frank and Holbrook 1990, p. 203). Matthews (1883, p. 175) was told that Navajo smiths had until a few years earlier used a flux mined in their own country, and gradually abandoned it once they found the pure borax the traders brought in much better. Not to be confused with almogen, which Matthews (1883, p. 175) records as a whitening agent.

fold-over clasp

A clasp in which a hinged arm folds down over a bar or into a slot and snaps flat.

forge soldering

"Heating the parts to be joined in a forge using charcoal and bellows to provide the heat" (Frank 1990). Branson (1977) calls it the bellows and charcoal soldering period, when "the only known method for soldering jewelry was to heat the object over burning charcoal" and intensify the heat "with air from the hand bellows." (Frank 1990, p. 203; Branson 1977, p. 4).

forge (wrought)

To shape by using a hammer.

foxtail

The popular name for a strong, braided steel wire used to string contemporary necklaces (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 56).

fracture-sealing

Filling the cracks, pits and holes in a porous stone with a sealant, lacquer or filler to create a smooth, workable surface. It is a treatment and belongs in the disclosure, not in the description of the stone.

Fred Harvey jewelry

Lightweight silver souvenir jewelry of the railroad tourist trade, named for its major buyer. Bahti (2007) writes that the style, the result of tourists' preference for lighter jewelry, was "dubbed 'Fred Harvey jewelry' after the major buyer." Ryan & Chambless (2020) write that "this tourist-trade jewelry became known as Fred Harvey jewelry," and June (2013) calls it "the early souvenir jewelry that today is called 'Fred Harvey jewelry.'" The Fred Harvey Company was a travel and tourism company in business from 1876 to 1968 (Baxter & Bird-Romero 2000). See railroad jewelry, tourist jewelry (Bahti 2007, p. 12; Ryan and Chambless 2020, p. 40; June 2013, p. 31; Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 56).

Freeform Stones

Hand-shaped, irregular stones preserving natural beauty.

frog

A frog or tadpole design, linked with rain and water. Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) call the frog a life-giving symbol, naturally associated with rain, and Dubin (1999) notes that frogs were a symbol of water and fertility in the desert Southwest, shown in turquoise frog beads from about A.D. 1000. Frogs are old in Southwest adornment: Hodge (1907) records an ancient shell pendant inlaid with turquoise in the shape of a frog, and a jet frog with turquoise eyes from Pueblo Bonito. Bunzel (1929) lists frogs and tadpoles among the creatures of springs painted on Zuni bowls. In jewelry they appear as fetish carvings, carved pendants and Hopi hallmarks (Wright 2003). Navajo weavers of 1910 avoided the frog as a design (Franciscan Fathers 1910) (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 57; Dubin 1999, p. 468; Hodge 1907, pp. 947–948; Bunzel 1929, p. 84; Wright 2003, p. 85; Franciscan Fathers 1910, p. 251).

G

Gaan

The Apache name for the mountain spirits, spelled gaan by Dubin (1999) and gan by Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000). Dubin writes that the Chiricahua Apache mountain spirits are believed to live within the mountains. In jewelry the figure is the Apache Mountain Spirit Dancer, or Crown Dancer; see that entry (Dubin 1999, p. 27; Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, pp. 4, 60).

gallery

The open structure between the setting and the shank, seen from the side. It is where a maker's finish shows most plainly, because it is the part a wearer rarely looks at.

Gallup Inter-tribal Indian Ceremonial

An annual event at Gallup, New Mexico, and "a significant venue for the exhibition and sale of predominantly Southwestern Indian jewelry" (Baxter & Bird-Romero 2000). Joseph Stacey (1975) called it "the 'Kentucky Derby' of the Indian shows," where each entry, to be eligible for an award, "must be completely handmade, and authenticated as to origin and quality." Sources differ on its first year: Baxter & Bird-Romero give September 28, 1922, and Bahti (2007) gives 1926 (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 60; Stacey 1975, p. 87; Bahti 2007, p. 46).

garnet

A red to purple silicate gemstone, common and inexpensive. By the 1880s the first stones Navajo smiths set in silver were usually small garnets or turquoise beads, and garnets were often set in rings (Lund 1976, p. 151; Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 60; Frank and Holbrook 1990, p. 16).

gaspeite

An apple- to yellow-green nickel carbonate, named for the Gaspé Peninsula in Quebec and mined commercially in Western Australia. It appears in contemporary Zuni and Navajo inlay for its unusual green.

Gauge

Thickness of metal sheet or wire.

gem-grade turquoise

The hardest and most saturated turquoise, dense enough to cut and take a polish with no treatment at all. It is the smallest fraction of any mine's production.

Germantown (yarn)

Machine-spun yarn that Navajo weavers used for blankets in the nineteenth century, replacing bayeta. The Franciscan Fathers (1910) describe "blankets which are woven of Germantown or machine-spun yarn," and quote Washington Matthews writing in 1881 that "many very beautiful blankets are now made wholly or partly of Germantown wool." Adair (1944) writes of "Navajo women who wove blankets of Germantown wool during the nineteenth century." See bayeta (Franciscan Fathers 1910, pp. 232, 244; Adair 1944, p. 40).

girdle

The middle section of a gem between the crown and pavilion that usually foram a ridge line.

glass

A hard transparent substance made by melting and rapidly cool sand with other ingrediants.

gold

A deep yellowish precious metal that is highly valued. Used to make Money and jewely.

gold filled / gold foil

A base metal that has been covered in an outer layer of gold.

Gold Karats (10K–24K)

Measure of gold purity (24K is pure gold).

gold lip mother-of-pearl

Mother-of-pearl with a golden tone, used in Zuni and other inlay. Bassman & Bassman (2006) picture it among the shells of Zuni jewelry and show it on a 1940s Frank Vacit buckle. Pardue (2007) shows it with black-lip mother-of-pearl on a 1994 belt by Charlie Bird. See mother of pearl (Bassman and Bassman 2006, pp. 7, 11; Pardue 2007, p. 114).

gorget

A breast ornament worn at the throat, hung from a cord or chain around the neck or fastened to the dress so that it rests on the chest like a pendant. W. H. Holmes, in Hodge’s Handbook, defines it as “a term applied to objects worn in some proximate relation with the gorge or throat” (Hodge, ed., 1907, p. 496; Baxter 2000, p. 63).

Government mark

The stamp the Indian Arts and Crafts Board devised in 1937 for Indian silver that met its standards. The Board's 1937 statement, reprinted in Wright (2003), says the mark "should be applied only to the finest quality of wholly genuine, truly hand-fashioned, and authentic Indian silver and turquoise products," and that its use "is not obligatory on any Indian, any factory, or any merchant." Bedinger (1973) records that "voluntary standards for Indian silverwork were drawn up in February 1937, and a government stamp devised for use on articles meeting these specifications." A 1946 editor's note in Woodward (1946) says the stamping program "lasted only a few years." See U.S. Navajo, Indian Arts and Crafts Board (Wright 2003, p. 129; Bedinger 1973, p. 120; Woodward 1946, p. 49).

graduated

To be ordered from small to large.

granular solder

Early handmade solder, predating commercially available solder, named for the grainy surface texture it leaves after melting.

granulation

Decoration made by fixing tiny grains of silver or gold to the surface of a piece, a technique from mainstream modern jewelry (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 151).

graver

A tool used for cutting or shaving metal.

graving

Lund's name for the earliest Navajo metal decoration: lines scratched with a file into copper, brass and finally silver (Lund 1976, p. 22).

green snail shell

A green shell used in Zuni inlay. Bassman & Bassman (2006) list it among the more widely used and exotic shells, picturing it both polished and unpolished. Schaaf (2003) lists it among the materials of Lela and Roderick Kaskalla (Bassman and Bassman 2006, pp. 5, 7; Schaaf 2003, p. 202).

guild

A local organization of Native artists for marketing their work. Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) write that supporters of Indian artists, led in the United States by the Indian Arts and Crafts Board, "urged native artists to form guilds, commencing in the 1940s," to ensure standards for quality, and that the guilds then marketed the artists' products for retail sale. Bedinger (1973) describes one such group, the Wingate Guild, formed at the Wingate Vocational High School "to provide employment for skilled former students." (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 64; Bedinger 1973, p. 120).

gunpowder charger

A small silver measure for the powder of a muzzle-loading gun. Also called a powder charger. It was the first object Matthews (1883) watched two Navajo smiths make: a receptacle bent into a cone and soldered, with a handle "in the shape of a dart." Frank & Holbrook (1990) describe it as a metal scoop and a popular item for silversmiths in the 1870s and 1880s. Adair's informant Grey Moustache recalled that powder was carried in cow-horn powder horns and poured into silver measures worn on the strap of the leather pouch (Matthews 1883, pp. 176–177; Frank and Holbrook 1990, p. 203; Adair 1944, pp. 7–8).

gypsy setting

Another name for a flush setting, where the stone sits level with the surrounding metal.

H

hair comb

A decorative comb worn set into the hair, the teeth doing the holding and the silver head carrying the design.

hairpipe

A long, tube-shaped bead used especially in breastplates. The name is a trader's term, as Dubin (1999) notes. Sources disagree on the material. Woodward (1946) describes shell hair pipes made in a New Jersey wampum factory, and Dubin also calls them shell. Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) call them bone, and Dubin notes that rib bones came before hair pipes as breastplate material. See bone (Woodward 1946, p. 6; Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 17; Dubin 1999, pp. 43, 45, 241).

half-round wire

Silver wire that is flat on one side and rounded on the other, used for ring shanks and outlines. Branson (1977) gives gauges and weights for it. June (2013) notes that half-round and triangle wire seem atypical of early Native jewelry but appear in 1940s petrified-wood pieces, from years when commercial wire was plentiful, and that debate continues over which came first (Branson 1977, pp. 40, 62; Bahti 2007, p. 62; June 2013, p. 150; Wilson 1912, p. 104).

hallmark

A signature stamp used by an artist to mark the art piece as their work.

halo

A ring of small stones set around a larger center stone, framing it and increasing its apparent size.

hammer work

A jewelry style that has been created by using a hammer to create designs or forge its shape.

hand saw bezel

A bezel whose upper edge is hand-sawn into teeth that are then bent over to grip the stone. The same construction the trade also calls a saw-toothed bezel; see sharktooth bezel.

Handcrafted

Assembled by hand from pre-made components.

hand-cut stones

Stones shaped by hand, ground against a coarse sandstone, basalt or other rock, as opposed to machine-cut stones ground on motor-driven lapidary machines. Frank (1990) treats the difference as one of the traits for dating a piece. Tanner (1954) wrote that older Navajo bracelets carried one or three round or oval stones, always hand cut and hand polished, while machine-cut stones had become the rule by her day. Also: machine-cut stones. See lapidary (Frank 1990, pp. 24, 203–205; Tanner 1954, p. 29).

Handmade

Created from raw materials by an individual artist.

Hano Clown

A clown figure named in Zuni inlay. Bassman & Bassman (2006) caption pins and bola ties by Nancy and Dennis Edaakie as the "Hano Clown," and Schiffer (2008) shows a matching inlaid bracelet and ring. Hano is a village on Hopi First Mesa, settled by Tewa people from the Rio Grande after the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 (Wright 2003). The books name the figure but do not define it, and do not say whether it is the same figure as the koshare. It is not the Koyemshi (Mudhead). See koshare (Bassman and Bassman 2006, pp. 28, 34; Schiffer 2008, p. 19; Wright 2003, pp. 1–2).

hard goods

The class of Navajo material wealth that takes in silver, turquoise, coral and shell. Bedinger (1973): "The Navajos grouped material wealth into two classes: hard goods and soft goods. Hard goods consisted of silver and turquoise, coral and shell." Writing in 1954, Tanner said Navajos looked on all forms of jewelry "as 'hard goods,' for indeed they are a medium of exchange." (Bedinger 1973, p. 113; Tanner 1954, p. 27).

hard solder

Solder alloyed with silver, melting at a relatively high temperature. It is the correct solder for silver jewelry because the joint matches the metal around it.

hardening

At T.Skies we use this term for: a process meant to make turquoise harder, such as the Zachery silica process. At T.Skies we count stone treated this way as enhanced. Clear resin also firms a stone as it stabilizes it, but resin alone we call stabilized.

hatband

A thin strip of silver worn around a hat just above the brim, stamped with simple designs. Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) date the form to about 1900, put older bands at about 5/8 inch wide, and say early ones fastened with a silver bow set with stones. Adair (1944) calls its origin and date unknown, gives the width as an inch or so, and describes a rosette-shaped button at the join. A later style studs a leather band with small silver conchas, like a miniature concha belt (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 68; Adair 1944, p. 52).

head pin

A straight wire with a stop at one end, threaded with beads and then looped at the top to make a drop.

headstall

The strapping of a bridle that holds the bit in the horse's mouth. In Southwest silverwork it is mounted with conchas and plaques, and it is where much early silver ornament was worn before it moved onto the body.

heartline

A line, often jagged, drawn on an animal's body from mouth to heart, seen on some fetishes and Native-made jewelry, usually on a hunting animal such as a deer or bear. Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) describe it as a convention that came from fetish carving into jewelry. Dubin (1999) shows a 1938 Zuni channel-inlay deer pin with a heartline, and suggests the image may have reached the Southwest with Athapaskan-speaking peoples. Also spelled heart line or heart-line. See fetish (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, pp. 68–69; Dubin 1999, p. 506; Bahti 1989, p. 16).

height bracelet

Charles Loloma's (Hopi) bracelet form, in which tall blocks of stone, such as lapis, fossil ivory and turquoise, rise from the band in raised inlay alongside gold and silver. It is large in scale and bold in effect. See raised inlay (Tryk 1993, p. 76; Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 100).

heishi

A thinly cut shell disk type bead. Also spelled heishe. Bahti (1989) gives it as the Santo Domingo word for "shell." (Bahti 1989, p. 14; Bassman and Bassman 2006, p. 6; Lund 1976, p. 151).

Herrero

A Spanish name for Atsidi Sani ("Old Smith"), the Navajo smith Woodward (1946) describes as "indicated as being the first silversmith." Adair (1944): "To the Mexicans he was known as Herrero, the Iron Worker." Woodward gives the fuller name Herrero Delgadito, "Little Lean Iron Worker," and Bedinger (1973) renders it "Little Slim Ironworker." (Adair 1944, p. 3; Woodward 1946, p. 16; Bedinger 1973, p. 6).

hogan

A Navajo dwelling. Bassman (1997) defines it as "a dwelling place of the Navajo." Dubin (1999) writes that the hogan, "a family-oriented dwelling that is 'circular like the horizon,'" is "a dome constructed of logs and wood, the embodiment of Navajo spirituality." (Bassman 1997, p. 76; Dubin 1999, p. 492).

Hohokam

A prehistoric people of central and southern Arizona. Wright (2003) defines them as "prehistoric Indians who lived in central and southern Arizona and made characteristic red-on-buff pottery." Lund (1976) credits them with "Mosaic and Inlay work with shells and turquoise." The dates differ: Lund places them "around 1300 A.D.," while Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) write that they left evidence of their existence "between 100 B.C. and A.D. 1500." (Wright 2003, p. 132; Lund 1976, p. 151; Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 69).

hook clasp

A simple clasp made of a loop and a hook that hooks in the loop.

hoop

A circular or oval earring passing through the piercing and closing on itself.

horn

Horn and antler from bison, deer, elk and moose, used across North America for belt buckles, buttons and bola tie ornaments (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 73).

Horned Moon

The registered trademark that, per Woodward (1946), the Navajo Arts and Crafts Guild (established at Window Rock, Arizona, in 1941) put on its products (Woodward 1946, p. 49).

horseshoe buckle

A belt buckle in the shape of a horseshoe. Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) write that "early buckles made of silver were often basic circlets or horseshoes with a crossbar to hold the tongue in place." Branson (1979) says the western-style horseshoe buckle "has held up more pairs of Levis than any other single fastener." (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 21; Branson 1979, p. 54).

host rock

Rock where a precious metal or other materal forms. With turquoise the host rock material becomes the matrix.

housing

The bezel frame that holds a stone or cabochon.

howlite

A naturally white mineral stone as a result of evaporiation made of calcium borosilicate hydroxide. Howlite is often dyed blue to look like turquoise

Hubbell beads

A trade name for glass beads made to imitate turquoise. Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) describe them as made mainly in Czechoslovakia and Italy and imported from the late nineteenth century until about 1923. They consider the name probably a misnomer and suggest it may come from a large cache of the beads found at the Hubbell Trading Post at Ganado in the late 1960s. Lund (1976) and Frank (1990) credit trader Lorenzo Hubbell himself with importing them around 1900. As of 2000, Baxter notes that genuine Hubbell beads were hard to find. Also called Hubbell glass. See trade beads, imitation turquoise (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 74; Lund 1976, pp. 143, 152; Frank 1990, p. 16; Dubin 1999, p. 511).

huggie

A small thick hoop sitting close against the lobe rather than hanging from it.

hummingbird

A bird motif, chiefly in Zuni inlay. In Pueblo belief, Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) write, the hummingbird is associated with rain and has a connection to rainbows. A 1994 Hopi concha belt by Karen Hoyungowa carries the legend "Hummingbird, representing the beauty of the rainbow" (Dubin 1999). In jewelry, Tryk (1993) credits the Zuni jeweler Dennis Edaakie with realistic inlaid hummingbirds that became his trademark, while Schaaf (2003) credits Annie Quam Gasper with a popular abstract hummingbird design. Bahti (2007) records that the Edaakies' hummingbird line began at a buyer's suggestion (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 148; Dubin 1999, p. 498; Tryk 1993, p. 79; Schaaf 2003, p. 160; Bassman and Bassman 2006, pp. 46, 55; Bahti 2007, p. 46).

hybrid

A piece that is part handmade and part machine-made. June counts the hybrid as one form of souvenir jewelry (June 2013, p. 104).

I

IHM (IHMS, IHMSS)

A stamped mark for Indian Hand Made. June (2013) traces the sequence: "Other hallmarks such as HM (Hand Made) eventually evolved into IHM (Indian Hand Made), which then became IHMSS (Indian Hand Made Sterling Silver)," the earlier forms emerging "midway through the Early Harvey Period." Schaaf (2003) lists the variants IHMS (Indian Handmade Silver) and IHMS/S (Indian Handmade Sterling Silver). Lund (1976) notes that assembly-line shops employing semi-skilled Indian workers could label their jewelry "Indian Hand Made." (June 2013, p. 128; Schaaf 2003, p. 276; Lund 1976, p. 88).

imitation turquoise

A material that only looks like turquoise. Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) sort imitations into three groups: glass or enamel; synthetic compounds that are chemically almost identical and hard to detect; and other blue-green minerals such as chrysocolla and variscite. Frank (1990) dates the first true imitation to about 1900, when trader Lorenzo Hubbell imported glass beads and cabochons. Branson (1975) describes plastic colored with blue pigment. As of 2000, Baxter calls plastic "block" one of the most common substitutes. Also called simulated turquoise. Imitation turquoise is not stabilized turquoise, which is real turquoise that has been treated. See synthetic turquoise, block turquoise, stabilized turquoise (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 76; Frank 1990, p. 16; Branson 1975, p. 9).

incising

Scratching designs into the surface of metal; Lund (1976, spelled "insising") calls it "like engraving." See engraving (Lund 1976, p. 152).

Indian Arts and Crafts Act (the Act)

U.S. law protecting Native artists from misrepresentation: it prohibits offering or selling a product in a way that falsely suggests it is Indian-produced (25 U.S.C. 305e). Under the Act, an Indian is a member of a federally or state-recognized tribe, or an individual certified by a tribe as a non-member Indian artisan (25 CFR 309.2). Not to be confused with IACA, the Indian Arts and Crafts Association, a trade group (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 77).

Indian Arts and Crafts Association (IACA)

A trade association of dealers, started in 1974. Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) quote its stated mission "to support the effective protection and ethical promotion of authentic Native American arts and material culture." Writing in 1976, Lund described it as "a young and very serious organization comprised of dealers." Not to be confused with the IACB, the federal board. See Indian Arts and Crafts Act (the Act) (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 77; Lund 1976, p. 11).

Indian Arts and Crafts Board (IACB)

A federal agency within the U.S. Department of the Interior. Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) write that it "was created in 1935 to ensure governmental advocacy of Indian culture through the development of arts and crafts." Bedinger (1973) records that Congress created the Board on August 27, 1935, with the function "to promote the economic welfare of the Indian tribes through the development of their handiwork or manufactures." June (2013) gives 1938. See Government mark, Indian Arts and Crafts Act (the Act) (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 78; Bedinger 1973, p. 120; June 2013, p. 34).

Indian Market

The annual Native arts market in Santa Fe, New Mexico, also known as the Santa Fe Indian Market. Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) write that it "originated in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 1922 as an exhibition of Indian arts meant to encourage sales to non-natives," and called it, as of 2000, "the largest all-Native American arts and crafts venue in North America." Ryan & Chambless (2020) record that the Indian Fair moved to its own weekend in August in 1962 "and became known as Indian Market." (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 79; Ryan and Chambless 2020, p. 46).

Indian style

A sales label for jewelry made to look Native American. It is no guarantee of Native making. Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) record "Indian Style" and "Indian Maid" among the evasive names some firms used for their product "rather than the actual company name," and file the term under native-style, which denotes "that an object has been created to resemble, or exactly reproduce, an established Native American art or craft convention, but that the object's creator is not Native American (or not part of the particular native tradition that originated the style)." Bahti (1989): "The words 'Indian design' or 'Indian style' are no guarantee that items are actually handmade by Native Americans." Adair (1944) writes that "the demand for 'Indian-style' silver was so great that manufacturers began to imitate the handmade Navajo silver." Also Indian design, native-style (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, pp. 78, 114; Bahti 1989, p. 48; Adair 1944, p. 27).

Indian trader

Originally anyone who traded with Native peoples; later, one who ran a trading post on or near a reservation. Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) write that the term first meant "any person who engaged in various means of exchanging goods with native peoples," and later "individuals who had established (or worked through) trading posts on or near reservations and engaged in commerce with Native Americans." Ryan & Chambless (2020) call the Indian trader "perhaps the central figure to bridge the gap" for a native population "recently subjugated by an expanding colonial power," and note that trading posts came to the newly formed Navajo reservation after the return from Bosque Redondo in 1868. See trading post (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 80; Ryan and Chambless 2020, p. 105).

Indian (under the Indian Arts and Crafts Act)

The definition of "Indian" written into the Indian Arts and Crafts Act, in its civil-action section. The statute reads: "The term 'Indian' means an individual that— (A) is a member of an Indian tribe; or (B) is certified as an Indian artisan by an Indian tribe." For that section, "Indian tribe" also includes a group "formally recognized as an Indian tribe by" a state legislature, a state commission, or a similar state body. Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) write that "the language of the act concerning tribal certification and the nature of an 'Indian product' has been the subject of extensive inquiry," and that questions from the industry carried the settling of its wording into the mid-1990s. See Indian Arts and Crafts Act (the Act) (25 U.S.C. § 305e(a), U.S. Code 2024 ed.; Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 77).

ingot

A casted block or piece of silver.

inlay

The inlay jewelry style is a lapidary style where flattened stones are measured, cut, shaped, and carefully laid in place to create a design. The Zuni tribe is often given credit for mastering this style of art. There are types of inlay according to how the stones are held in place; channel inlay and stone to stone inlay.

investment

A plaster-like material used to make casting molds. In lost wax casting it is poured around a wax model to form a hard shell; Jacka (1995) and Lund (1976) describe it, Lund in spin casting. Branson (1977) describes a second use: dental investment poured into pans and carved directly as an open mold in place of tufa, because it is easier to carve. See lost wax casting, centrifugal casting, tufa (Lund 1976, p. 152; Jacka 1995, p. 53; Branson 1977, p. 53; Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 102).

ironwood

Any type of natural tree word that produce hard timber can be used also as center jewelry pieces.

Irradiation

Irradiation is the process by which an item is exposed to radiation used to make turquoise less “chalky”.

ivory

An organic white hard material from the tusks of animals such as elephants and walruses.

J

jacla (jacklas)

Traditional 2 strand beaded Native jewelry earrings that are centered with a pendant like stone or shell. Today the Jacla is often hung as a centerpiece of a necklace. Also spelled jocla or jackla (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 90; Turnbaugh 2007, p. 91).

jet

A minor gemstone derived from the decaying of organic wood under extream pressure. This material is black and very light, often found in stone inly and smal cut heishi work.

jeweler (as opposed to silversmith)

A craftsman whose main interest is the stone and its setting rather than the silver; used in contrast to silversmith. Lund (1976) defines the jeweler, "as opposed to silversmith," as a "craftsman whose primary interest is in the setting material." Bahti (1989) writes that "in the 1920s Zuñi jewelers began creating silverwork that was used primarily as an accent for their lapidary work." See lapidary, silversmith (metalsmith) (Lund 1976, p. 152; Bahti 1989, p. 5).

jewelry (jewellery)

Decorative personal ornaments that are worn on parts of the body.

jewelry nomenclature

The systematic method of naming jewelry

jump ring

A small ring of wire, open at a single cut, used to link one component to another. The commonest connector in jewelry and the commonest point of failure when it is not soldered shut.

K

kachina

A sacred being of the Pueblo peoples (Baxter & Bird-Romero 2000), also spelled katsina; the Hopi and Zuni have the most. Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) describe each as a holy force of nature that brings some benefit to people, and Tryk (1993) describes katsinas as intermediaries who intercede with the deities; Wright (2003) defines the kachina as a Hopi supernatural being. In jewelry, katsina figures are set in chip or mosaic inlay, or worked in engraved or overlay silver, usually more abstract than a carved figure. Captions name the figure shown: Bassman & Bassman (2006) list Antelope, Corn, Longhorn and Bear Kachinas in Zuni raised and etched inlay (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 94; Tryk 1993, p. 136; Wright 2003, p. 133; Bassman and Bassman 2006, pp. 14, 28, 34). Schiffer (1996) shows a channel-inlay Antelope Kachina head by Dewa, made in the 1950s–60s, and Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) note that antelope and deer head masks are among the figures most often shown (Schiffer 1996, p. 118). Long Hair katsinas appear in Hopi jewelry, such as Leon Lomakema's hair pieces (Bassman 1993) and an early-1980s necklace by Preston Monongye and Lee Yazzie (Dubin 1999), and in Zuni mosaic inlay of the 1940s (Schaaf 2003) (Bassman 1993, p. 41; Dubin 1999, p. 540; Schaaf 2003, p. 212).

kachina doll

Scuplted doll to represent a deity

karat

A unit that measures the purity of gold

ketoh

The Navajo word for "bowguard"

Kingman

Kingman is the name of a Turquoise mine in Northwest Arizona. It is named after the town of Kingman, situated 14 miles to the southeast. The closest major city is Las Vegas, Nevada. The Kingman site is next to a large copper mine, which is commonly found alongside turquoise. In fact, the presence of copper is what gives the Kingman Blue turquoise its distinctive hue. Within the umbrella of the Kingman name are actually three separate claims: Mineral Park, Ithaca Peak, and Aztec Mountain. All are known as Kingman turquoise.

Knifewing (Achiyalatopa)

A Zuni figure that merges human and bird form, with flint-knife feather wings and tail and a terraced cap. Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) describe it as a supernatural being and culture hero of Pueblo legend, associated with the zenith and with war; Adair (1944) calls it a Zuni god of the zenith and adds that its image, once made in silver, carries no religious significance. Horace Iule first made it in silver in 1928, and Bedinger (1973) counts it among the earliest designs used decoratively in silver, first as flat castings and then set with cut turquoise. It is a signature Zuni motif in pendants, pins and rings (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 95; Adair 1944, p. 139; Bedinger 1973, p. 148).

kokopelli

A deity that represents fertility

Kolowisi

The Zuni plumed or feathered serpent. June (2013) calls it the guardian of water sources and notes that similar serpents appear among many other tribes. Bunzel (1929) records it as a ceremonial possession of great importance and shows its image on Zuni prayer-meal bowls. No owned book records Kolowisi by name in jewelry. It is not the same as the Lightning Snake, a trader's stamp symbol. See avanyu, Lightning Snake (June 2013, p. 91; Bunzel 1929, pp. 23, 92).

koshare

A Pueblo ritual figure belonging to a clown society, shown with horizontal black and white stripes on the body, a black kilt, and black circles around the eyes. Koshare are not katsinas. Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) note that the figure has been represented in some jewelry, mainly inlay, often at the encouragement of non-Indian buyers. Bassman & Bassman (2006) caption inlay figures on Zuni-made pins and bola ties as the "Hano Clown"; the books do not say whether the two names mean one figure (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 96; Tryk 1993, p. 141; Bassman and Bassman 2006, pp. 28, 34).

Koyemshi

The Zuni name for the Mudhead, a figure of Zuni and Hopi ceremonial life. J. Walter Fewkes, in Hodge's Handbook (1907), counts the Koyimsi among the ancient priesthoods of the Hopi. The full entry is under Mudhead (Koyemshi). Why we carry no Mudhead content. T.Skies is a store outside the pueblos, so we carry no Mudhead pieces and show no images of it. Native artists may choose to make them; that is their right (Hodge 1907, p. 567; T.Skies cultural guidelines).

L

labret

A plug or disc worn through a piercing in or near the lip, made of bone, shell, stone or wood. Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) place it with Arctic and Northwest Coast peoples, including the Aleut, Inuit, Haida and Tlingit, and note that as of 2000 it was not a regular form in commercial Native jewelry, though some modern pieces refer to it. Also called a lip plug (Hodge 1907, p. 750; Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 97; Pogue 1915, p. 88).

lanolin

An oily substance that can be used in making soaps and lotions.

lapidary

The art of cutting, shaping and polishing stones.

lapis

A metamorphic rock ranging in color from bright blue to deep lavender purple.

lariat

A long necklace with no clasp, worn looped, knotted, or passed through a ring at one end.

lead solder

A low-melting solder. It was used extensively in Plains metalwork and not at all in the Southwest, so its presence on a piece is a repair or a warning, not a period feature.

lever back

An ear wire closed by a hinged lever that snaps shut behind the lobe, securing the earring.

lightning

A design of jagged, zigzag lines. Baxter (2000) records it as a symbol of the powerful force of the heavens and a harbinger of rain, associated with supernatural spirits and with animals such as the eagle and the thunderbird. Lightning zigzags are common die stamps on both Native silverwork and tourist jewelry. The arrow point or crossed bar sometimes added to the bolt is a tourist-era addition, and Baxter calls the meaning of "swiftness" that came with it specious (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 99).

Lightning Snake

A snake symbol from the Fred Harvey-era trader's chart of stamp designs, used on tourist silver. June (2013) shows that the Maisel shops were using the full Harvey symbol palette by 1920, and that Lightning Snakes found their way into many Harvey stamp schemes. It is a trader's symbol, not a Pueblo figure, and no book equates it with the Zuni Kolowisi. See lightning, Kolowisi (June 2013, pp. 77, 86, 91).

liquid silver

Very fine tubular silver beads strung many strands to a necklace, so the whole falls and moves like poured metal. Most liquid silver is machine-made and strung by hand.

liver of sulfur

A sulfide mixture that is used to chemically oxidize silver.

lizard

A lizard design. Among the Hopi it is a clan symbol: Wright (2003) records Snake and Lizard among clans that "go together," and lizard hallmarks among Hopi smiths. A 1994 Hopi concha belt by Karen Hoyungowa names the lizard as the one "who protects the hot sand" (Dubin 1999). Dubin also notes that the double-barred cross was often equated with lizard effigies. Pogue (1915) records a Hopi legend that turquoise is the excrement of lizards. Lizards appear in Hohokam shell carving (Tryk 1993; Baxter & Bird-Romero 2000), in a silver lizard pin by Charles Loloma around 1950 (Tryk), and in Navajo cast and Hopi overlay work. Salamanders appear too, as in a piece by Richard Taylor (Navajo) (Dubin 1999). The souvenir chart's "sign of the desert" for the Gila monster (June 2013) is a dealer's claim (Wright 2003, pp. 71, 75; Dubin 1999, pp. 498, 504, 573; Pogue 1915, p. 125; Tryk 1993, p. 52; Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 159; June 2013, p. 77).

lobster clasp

A sprung hook with a hinged, thumb-operated gate, named for its shape. Also called a lobster claw.

Lost Wax Casting

Wax model melted away to form a detailed metal duplicate.

M

machine cast

Machine casting is when a design is turned into a prefabricated mold and can be reused many times. This is usually looked down on in the Native American jewelry industry and it takes the uniqueness out of the jewelry. Many factories take advantage of the Native art industry be filling the market with cheap reproductions using this technique.

machine-made bead

A bead made entirely by machine: two identical halves are stamped out and each half is machine-punched (Lund 1976, p. 126).

machine-made (Lund)

Lund's 1976 term for jewelry partially or wholly formed, stamped or cast by machine, with little if any hand work (Lund 1976, pp. 15, 153).

magnesite

Magnesium carbonate that appears white and sometime crystilne or with host rock matrix. Magnesite can sometimes be dyed to look like turquoise.

magnetic clasp

A clasp closed by opposed magnets. Easy to fasten one-handed and correspondingly easy to lose — not suited to heavy pieces.

Maisel

The Maisel Trading Post Company of Albuquerque, New Mexico, a maker of tourist jewelry. Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) write that it "started in 1924" and was "one of a number of manufacturing firms making tourist jewelry and related goods in the early twentieth century." Ryan & Chambless (2020) write that "Maisel's solution was to introduce machine fabrication." He hired Native Americans to run the machines and to demonstrate handmade crafts in the front of the store, "creating the impression that all of the crafts were authentic handmade Indian jewelry." See drop press (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 104; Ryan and Chambless 2020, p. 104).

malachite

A semiprecious bright green stone variation of copper carbonate

male and female turquoise

Adair (1944) recorded that the Navajo called the clear, deep robin's-egg-blue turquoise "male" and the greener, less rare stone "female." Welch (1973) repeats the distinction (Adair 1944, p. 199; Welch 1973, p. 52).

man in the maze

A design of a figure at the entrance of a maze-like path, which comes from the Pima and Tohono O'odham. Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) trace it to their stories of Elder Brother (I'itoi) and his journey home. They note that the path is not a true maze, since it has no dead ends or false turns, and that it is popularly read as a "path of life." Navajo and Hopi smiths adopted it widely for overlay pins, rings, bracelets and watchbands, often in gold and silver. Turnbaugh (2007) gives the Pima name as Siuhu Ki. See overlay (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 105; Turnbaugh 2007, p. 61; Bahti 2007, p. 170).

manta

A woven cloth worn as a shawl or a dress. Woodward (1946) glosses it "shawl or blanket." Wright (2003) gives the Spanish sense, "coarse cotton cloth," and notes that among the Hopi it refers to "the handwoven black woolen square used as a dress." Dubin (1999) describes "the traditional black woolen blanket dress worn by Pueblo women." See Manta Pin (Woodward 1946, p. 58; Wright 2003, p. 133; Dubin 1999, p. 500).

Manta Pin

A large silver brooch, historically set with turquoise cabochons and twisted-wire accents, once used by Navajo and Pueblo women to fasten a manta — a wrapped woven dress — at the shoulder. As manta dress fell out of everyday use, the pins persisted as collectible decorative brooches.

maponi

The Hopi word for "bowguard"

Masau

A Hopi figure, written Masau, Masau'u or Maasaw. Wright (2003) defines Masau as one of the Hopi chief kachinas, and in one of his aspects, a deity of the underworld, and Schaaf (2003) glosses Maasaw as "the Spirit of the Earth." Dubin (1999) records him in a Hopi origin account as one of the first beings, wearing four strands of turquoise and very large turquoise ear pendants. Maasaw is also a Hopi clan name. The figure appears in Hopi silver as a maker's hallmark: Willie Coin of the Maasaw-Fire Clan signed with it (Schaaf 2003; Wright 2003). See kachina, hallmark (Wright 2003, pp. 76, 133; Schaaf 2003, p. 118; Dubin 1999, p. 461).

matinee length

A necklace of roughly twenty to twenty-four inches, falling to the top of the breastbone.

matrix

The part of the host rock that surrounds and intersects the precious material or gemstone often creating a pattern.

matte (matting)

The process of adding texture to metal.

medicine bundle

A bundle or pouch of objects that are personally sacred to its owner, whether a medicine man or not, as Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) describe it. Its contents are not ours to describe. Among the Navajo, the medicine pouch is called jish (Franciscan Fathers 1910). Baxter notes that the leather shoulder bag Navajo men wear, often decorated with silver, is commonly called a medicine pouch, and that its wearers think of it as that rather than as a bandolier; Frank (1990) shows a Navajo example. The medicine bundle as a jewelry design is recent: Baxter dates it to the 1980s onward, mainly by Plains artists as a tribute to Plains material culture. Also called medicine pouch. See bandolier pouch (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, pp. 7, 108; Franciscan Fathers 1910, p. 383; Frank 1990, p. 107; Manley 1975, p. 28).

melon bead

A hollow silver bead, slightly elongated and pointed at each end, made by punching thin silver strip into boat-shaped cavities in a die. Its likeness to a melon seed gave it its earlier name, melon seed bead, and Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) note it is also called a piñon bead (Branson 1977, p. 39; Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 108).

metal accents

Accenting designs made out of metal

microscopic inlay

A form of mosaic inlay that arranges many micro-fine stones, ground, sealed and shaped into delicate designs (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 83).

Mimbres

A prehistoric people of southwestern New Mexico, known for black-on-white pottery. Wright (2003) defines them as a "prehistoric Indian group of southwestern New Mexico, noted for their black and white pottery, often with life forms." Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) describe them as "considered a subgroup of the ancient Mogollon culture," most active around A.D. 900, and "best known for their distinctive black-on-white pottery." (Wright 2003, p. 133; Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 109).

Mohs hardness scale

The standard scale of mineral hardness. Lowry (2010) explains that hardness is measured by a stone's "resistance to scratching against known minerals that have accepted hardness standards according to the Mohs Scale of Hardness." Lund (1976) notes that the scale "ranges all the way from 10 down to 1," with talc at the bottom. Chambless & Ryan (2021) put turquoise at 5 to 6 (Lowry 2010, p. 117; Lund 1976, p. 142; Chambless and Ryan 2021, p. 85).

mokume-gane

A Japanese metalworking technique in which layers of different metals are joined, forged and rolled to show a wood-grain pattern. Hougart (2022) describes it as a mixed-metal laminate first used in sword forging. Jacka (1995) quotes Patrick Smith, who calls the process a "marriage of the metals" and builds his stack to twelve layers. Also written mokume (Hougart 2022, p. 444; Jacka 1995, p. 69).

molds

Forms that shape molten silver. Lund (1976) describes two kinds: ingot molds, which make a bar to be hammered out, and molds carved to the shape of the finished piece. Bedinger (1973) lists early mold materials, including wood, dark stone, clay and fine sandstone found on the reservation. Lund adds that, as of 1976, concrete had been the most recent. See ingot, tufa cast, sand casting (Lund 1976, p. 153; Bedinger 1973, p. 24; Frank 1990, p. 204; Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 82).

mollusk

A boneless animal that produces a hard calcareous exoskeleton called a chell that supports and protects the animals soft parts.

morning star

A star or cross motif that several peoples, not one, read as the morning star. Matthews (1883) understood the cross worn by the Navajo to be a symbol of the morning star, not the Christian cross. Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) describe an even-armed cross that stands for the morning star among Plains and Southwestern groups, and Dubin (1999) notes that a cross on Plains work did not always mean Christianity. Stevenson (1885) records morning-star figures on Zuni pottery, and the Apache jeweler Jan Loco often uses a four-pointed morning star in earrings and necklaces (Pardue 2007). Hodge (1910) cautions that one cross shape can stand for different things among different peoples. The souvenir-chart meaning "guidance" (June 2013) is a dealer's claim (Matthews 1883, p. 178; Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, pp. 41, 100; Dubin 1999, p. 289; Welch 1973, pp. 39–40; Stevenson 1885, p. 540; Pardue 2007, p. 81; Hodge 1910, p. 153; June 2013, p. 77).

mosaic

a picture or pattern made with stones

mosaic inlay

A design built from small pieces of stone or shell laid directly against one another with no silver dividing them.

mother of pearl

An organic shiny white substance that forms the inner layer of shells of sea creatures such as mollusks, and oysters.

mother-in-law bell

A small silver bell that Navajo smiths made in the nineteenth century. It was hammered from a silver quarter into a cup shape, with a small loop soldered inside at the top and a bit of silver or copper tied to the loop. By 1944 Adair counted it a museum piece, no longer made. Adair (1944), quoting an informant, connects it with Navajo mother-in-law avoidance (Adair 1944, pp. 7, 15, 52; Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 109).

motion-in-the-hand

A Navajo practice of diagnosing illness, as Adair (1944) defines it. It belongs here because Navajo silversmiths practiced it. Adair's teacher, the smith Grey Moustache, knew its prayers, and another smith Adair worked with, John, practiced it alongside his silverwork. How it is done is not ours to describe (Adair 1944, pp. 10–11, 106).

Mudhead (Koyemshi)

A figure of Zuni and Hopi ceremonial life. The Zuni name is Koyemshi, also spelled Koyimsi (Hodge 1907) and Koyemsi (Schaaf 2003). J. Walter Fewkes, in Hodge's Handbook (1907), counts the Koyimsi among the ancient priesthoods of the Hopi, and Schaaf (2003) records that the Koyemsi are led by a chief, one of the Zuni traditional leaders. Some books describe them only as clowns: Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) define them that way, and Tryk (1993) calls them "figures of fun" who point up people's foibles during the katsina dances. Fewkes writes that the priesthood functions as clowns during the sacred dances, but the Koyemshi is more than a clown. Mudheads are not katsinas (Tryk 1993). For more information, please contact a Zuni tribal official. Why we carry no Mudhead content. T.Skies is a store outside the pueblos, so we carry no Mudhead pieces and show no images of it. Native artists may choose to make them; that is their right (Hodge 1907, p. 567; Schaaf 2003, p. 92; Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 111; Tryk 1993, p. 141; T.Skies cultural guidelines).

multi stone

The multi stone design is also very common. It is a classification meaning literally more than one stone. It is a broader term used for other unique styles such as Row, Cluster, and Inlay styles. The basic multi stone designs used in Native American jewelry use three to five matching stones. The center stone is usually the largest and most profound, and then is flanked by the other stones. The stones are commonly set in a graduated pattern where the stones are arranged from largest to smallest, starting in the center.

multi-strand

A necklace of several strands worn together from shared ends, either matched or graduated in length.

N

nahsompi

A stylized hair knot that marks some Hopi warrior kachinas, as Wright (2003) defines it. Wright also records it as a silversmith's hallmark, the "Nahsompi (Hair Whorl)" mark of Edgar Miller Hovalo, who began silversmithing under the 1948 G.I. Bill. See kachina, hallmark (Wright 2003, pp. 78, 117, 133).

naja

Inverted crescent symbol usually made into a pendant found as the center piece of squash blossom necklaces. The Franciscan Fathers (1910) recorded the Navajo word názhăhi for the crescent-shaped pendant, and Woodward (1946) derives "naja" from it. It also appears as najahe in Adair (1944), Welch (1973) and Lund (1976) (Franciscan Fathers 1910, p. 279; Woodward 1946, p. 58; Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 113; Adair 1944, p. 41; Welch 1973, p. 28; Lund 1976, p. 153).

Native Inspired

Made in a similar style but not by an enrolled Native artist.

Native Made

Created by an enrolled Native American artist.

natural turquoise

At T.Skies we use this term for: as it comes out of the earth, with nothing added except the water or mineral oil used while cutting. Turquoise used as it came out of the ground — cut and polished only, with no resin, dye, oil, wax or other treatment. It is the smallest share of the turquoise on the market, because only harder grades take a polish without help.

Navajo pearl

A completely handmade silver sphearical pearl shaped bead sometimes decorated with stampwork found in Navajo jewelry.

necklace

An article of jewelry that is worn around the neck

needlepoint

Stones that are cut and shapped to have a sharp point at each end.

nephrite

A tough silicate stone that Kunz (1909) calls "jade or nephrite." He gives its hardness as 6.5 and calls it one of the toughest minerals known. Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) note its long use by Native peoples of Alaska, Canada and the Northwest, and that lapidaries sometimes call it "greenstone." (Kunz 1909, p. 37; Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 120; Dubin 1999, p. 68).

nickel silver (German silver)

Not actually silver but an alloy of nickel, zinc and copper that appears silver in color. Nickel silver originally called German silver, which is not really silver at all is a far less valued imitation of sterling silver. In the mid 1970s artists started to stamp sterling silver or 925 in their work to indicate the quality of the materials they used. By the late 1980s it became common practice to stamp the sterling marks. If shopping for silver jewelry look for this mark however it is not a guarantee that it truly is sterling silver. Some not so honest silversmiths will sometimes try to stamp the work sterling or 925 on a nickel silver piece. Experts that work with silver on a daily can usually tell if the silver is nickel just by touching it however this is still not 100% accurate. The only way to truly tell is to do a silver acid test. Another clue to look for is to check the hardness. Nickel silver is a much harder metal and smiths working with this material need to be a little stronger with their forge and stamp work. Pieces with stamp designs can look slightly faded because the stamping is not as deep.

nizhóní

Navajo word for "beautiful"

nodular turquoise

Turquoise deposited in an open pocket rather than a fracture, which comes out rounded. Also called nugget turquoise.

nugget

A raw chunk of precious material

O

obsidian

Natural volcanic glass. Native peoples used it for ceremonial and trade purposes, and the use carried over into jewelry as a setting stone, for carved pendants and in inlay (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 126).

oiling

Finishing softer, lower-grade turquoise with an oil- or wax-based polish to deepen its color. The effect is not permanent — oiled stones lighten or spot as the oil breaks down under sunlight and changing temperature — and it is a treatment that must be disclosed. Adair (1944) records inferior stones being given a deeper color by soaking them in grease (Adair 1944, p. 200). At T.Skies we count stone treated this way as enhanced.

olivella shell

A small shell, also called olive shell, used whole or ground into beads. Stacey (1975) describes early beads made from whole olivella or conus shells. Franciscan Fathers (1910) record olivella among the hard beads added to Navajo white-shell strands. Bassman & Bassman (2006) show Zuni fetish necklaces strung on olivella heishi, and Turnbaugh (2007) lists it among the favorite shells of Santo Domingo beadwork. See heishi (Franciscan Fathers 1910, p. 301; Bassman and Bassman 2006, pp. 21, 23; Stacey 1975, p. 6; Turnbaugh 2007, p. 68; Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 159).

onyx

A semiprecious variety of agate usually found in black but can be many different colors. Within the Native American jewelry industry artists usually only use black.

opal

A semiprecious gemstone made of hydrated silica found in a variety of colors and often many colors at once. Opal has manytimes an almost plastic look an feel.

opera length

A necklace of roughly twenty-eight to thirty-six inches, long enough to be worn doubled.

overlay

The overlay style is made when two or more metals are overlaid one on top of another, and then using the depth of the two layers to create dimension in a design. The Hopi tribe is well known for mastering geometric pattern overlay work. The most common overlay design is when the artist cuts out shapes in a silver strip and then layers it on top of a second silver strip. Darkening of the bottom strip by tempering, scratching, or chemically oxidizing the metal is common to help give contrast between the layers.

ox blood

A name for coral that is a dark red color simular to the color of blood.

oxidation

The chemical reaction from being exposed to oxygen. The darekening of silver in the form of patina is the result of oxidation over time.

Oxidized Silver

Silver darkened intentionally for contrast or antique look.

P

pahos

The Hopi word for prayer offerings, or prayer feathers. Hougart (2022) glosses pahos as prayer offerings and Wright (2003) as prayer feathers. They are a Hopi overlay motif. Wright describes Bernard Dawahoya designing pieces with pahos and rain symbols, Bassman (1993) show 1992 prayer-feather rings, tie bars and money clips, and Harlan Joseph uses a cloud with pahos as his hallmark. Zuni and Navajo prayer sticks have their own names (Navajo k'eťán) and are not called pahos (Hougart 2022, pp. 163, 445; Wright 2003, pp. 55, 101; Bassman 1993, pp. 41, 43).

parting powder

A fine powder dusted on a casting mold so that the halves come apart cleanly. Branson (1979) describes a moisture-resistant powder, usually based on lycopodium, which is the spores of a club moss. Wilson (1912) describes the same job done with fine sand or powdered brick dust. See sand casting (Branson 1979, p. 43; Wilson 1912, pp. 363, 482).

paste

An imitation stone. Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) define it as "an inexpensive substitution for jewelry stonework generally made from synthetic, or inorganic, substances." Pogue (1915) records that Muhammed Ibn Mansur, writing in 1300, described glass paste among the imitations of turquoise, and that most paste imitations "show a glassy appearance." (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 129; Pogue 1915, p. 131).

patina

The darkening of the surface of metal from oxidation over a period of time.

pavilion

THe lower area of a faceted gem

pavé

A setting in which small stones are placed so closely together that almost no metal shows between them.

pavé setting

A setting in which small stones are placed so close together that the metal beneath is hidden. See pavé.

pawn

Jewelry or other goods left as security for a loan, historically at the trading post. Bahti (1989) defines pawning as "simply the act of an individual's leaving an item as collateral or security for a loan," and writes that if unredeemed after the agreed time, "it becomes 'dead pawn' and can be sold." Adair (1944) describes the pawn rack in every post, "where silver jewelry, turquoise necklaces, and other items are stored." Lund (1976) applies "dead pawn" to jewelry in pawn at the owner's death, or pawned jewelry that had clearly gone unclaimed. Also dead pawn, pawn rack. See trading post (Bahti 1989, p. 18; Adair 1944, p. 108; Lund 1976, p. 116).

pectoral

A large ornament worn on the chest. Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) associate it with Woodlands and Plains peoples. Frank (1990) shows a German-silver breastplate, or pectoral, made by Southern Plains smiths around 1865–1875, and Bedinger (1973) compares the naja to the crescents hanging from Plains metal pectorals. See gorget, naja (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 131; Frank 1990, p. 146; Dubin 1999, p. 284; Bedinger 1973, p. 100).

pendant

A piece of jewelry that hangs.

penn shell

A brown-toned shell used in inlay. Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) note it became the substitute for tortoise shell. Bassman & Bassman (2006) picture it among the shells of Zuni jewelry. Also spelled pen shell. See tortoise shell (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, pp. 159, 183; Bassman and Bassman 2006, p. 7; Turnbaugh 2007, p. 49).

peridot

A green magnesium iron silicate, yellow to deep olive in tone, usually cut for faceting (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 132).

petrified wood

Fossilzed remains of wood that has turned into stone.

petroglyph

A prehistoric rock carving (Bassman 1997). Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) widen the entry to "inscriptions, paintings, or carvings on rock," known as "rock art," and call these images "some of the most important sources for native design inspiration." (Bassman 1997, p. 76; Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 133).

pettipoint

Stones that are cut to be very small usually in a round or oval shape.

Picasso marble

A fine-grained, crystalline rock crossed with lines of dark brown, gray, orange, tan and yellow (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 134).

pickling

Soaking silver in a mild acid bath, called a pickle, after soldering or heating, to clean off flux, fire scale and oxide. Branson (1977) gives a mix of about one part acid to ten parts water and notes that a commercial pickle, Sparex, is safer. See flux, fire coat (Branson 1977, pp. 22, 60; Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 3; Wilson 1912, p. 482).

picture stone

A smooth, flat slice of petrified wood set in a pendant. The name comes from the faces or figures some people see in its grain (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 133).

picture-rock matrix

Matrix that happens to form a recognizable shape — a tree, a coastline, a figure. It is valued for the accident, and no two are alike.

pin

A piece worn fastened to cloth by a hinged pin and catch on the reverse. Used interchangeably with "brooch" in the Southwest trade, where "pin" is the more common word.

pin pendant

A piece with both a brooch pin and a loop or hook, so it can be worn as a pin or hung as a pendant. Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) record a Zuni claim to have devised the dual fitting (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 134).

piñon

A variety of pine tree whose gum, "a sticky resin," was used by prehistoric Indian tribes "to secure stones and shells to a wood or woven base" (Lund 1976). Pogue (1915) describes Hopi mosaic ear pendants of thin turquoise slabs "cemented with piñon gum to a flat wooden base." Also written pinon (Lund 1976, p. 154; Pogue 1915, p. 102).

pipestone

A fine red argillite, soft when freshly quarried and hardening on exposure, used in the Southwest as an inlay and carving material. Also called catlinite. It carries ceremonial significance for Plains nations that is not ours to explain here.

pitch mosaic

An ancient technique in which small stone or shell pieces are set into a bed of pine pitch on a shell or wood backing, rather than into metal. It predates silverwork in the Southwest by centuries.

planishing

To flatten and widen a piece of metal with a hammer.

plastic

A synthetic material made from carbon polymers.

platero

Spanish for silversmith, from plata, silver (Lund 1976). Woodward (1946) glosses it "Silversmiths." Adair (1944) writes of "the Mexican plateros (silversmiths) who lived in villages in the upper Rio Grande valley," and Bahti (1989) records that in the mid-1800s Mexican plateros from the Rio Grande Valley would "roam through Navajo country producing silver trinkets in exchange for horses." Plural: plateros (Lund 1976, p. 154; Woodward 1946, p. 58; Adair 1944, p. 3; Bahti 1989, p. 4).

plique-à-jour

Enamel without a metal backing, held in an open framework of metal so that light passes through it like a stained-glass window. Hougart (2022) and Wilson (1912) both define it (Hougart 2022, p. 445; Wilson 1912, pp. 215, 483).

polish

To make the surface so something smooth and shiney my rubbing it.

polished

Although most styles can be polished and shiny, the polished style of native American jewelry is usually fairly simple and straight forward. The base metal used in the style is smooth and polished to be reflective and shiny, like a mirror. This is commonly found in cuff style bracelets, rings, and earrings. With the polished style, there is not any other accenting work on the metal such as stones or metal stampwork.

pony beads

Small-diameter trade beads, named because traders' pack ponies so often carried them to Native customers, particularly in the West (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 139).

precious stones

The traditional name for four gemstones (diamond, emerald, ruby and sapphire), and also for pearls (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 140).

princess length

A necklace of roughly seventeen to nineteen inches, sitting at the collarbone. The most common length sold.

Production Jewelry

Mass-produced, factory-made jewelry.

prong

A narrow metal finger bent over the edge of a stone to hold it. Prongs hold with the least metal and show the most stone.

prong setting

A setting holding a stone with bent metal fingers. It exposes the most stone and the most light, and it is the most vulnerable to catching.

Provenance

The origin or history of a jewelry piece; where it was made and by whom.

pseudomorph

A stone that has taken the outward crystal form of a different mineral it replaced, so the shape belongs to one mineral and the substance to another. Turquoise pseudomorphs are sometimes sold as "fossil turquoise," a trade name rather than a mineralogical one.

Pueblo

Spanish for "town," and the name of related peoples of the Southwest who live in such villages. Lund (1976): "Spanish word for 'town'. Also the name given to several related tribes of Indians living in various regions of the Southwest." Bedinger (1973) describes the Pueblos as "a settled people" who "dwelled in houses of adobe or masonry in villages, or pueblos, in northeastern Arizona and along the Rio Grande in northwestern New Mexico." (Lund 1976, p. 154; Bedinger 1973, p. 3).

pump drill

A hand drill driven by a weighted shaft and a crossbar on cords, spun by pushing the bar down. It is the traditional tool for drilling shell and stone beads. Some writers call it a bow drill, as the Franciscan Fathers (1910) and Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) do. Hodge (1907) treats the bow drill as a separate tool, spun by drawing a bow back and forth, and notes the pump drill is much faster (Franciscan Fathers 1910, p. 301; Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 145; Hodge 1907, pp. 402–403).

pyrite

A golden colored material consisting of crystaline iron disulfide found in turquoise matrix

Q

quartz

A translucent silica mineral, 7 on the Mohs hardness scale. It is sometimes dyed blue to pass as turquoise (Lund 1976, p. 154).

R

railroad jewelry

An older name for the souvenir silver now called Fred Harvey jewelry. June (2013) writes that silver Indian souvenir jewelry "was at the time more popularly known as 'railroad jewelry,'" a name that, June wrote, "seems far more descriptive and appropriate than 'Fred Harvey jewelry.'" Bahti (2007) agrees that the style "could more accurately be called 'railroad jewelry,' reflecting the origin of the market for these items." See Fred Harvey jewelry (June 2013, p. 31; Bahti 2007, p. 12).

Rainbird

One of the oldest Zuni design motifs, originating in pottery: a spiraled beak set between two stepped, cloud-like wings that represent the eye of the storm and the rain cycle. It later migrated from historic pottery into contemporary silver and inlay jewelry. It is distinct from the Water Bird and Thunderbird.

rainbow

The rainbow design is a type of row or cluster multi stone style using more than two colors of stones. The stones don’t necessarily have to be of different type, but the colors have to differ enough to give a minimum of a three color effect. Many Native artists will use all of the colors of the rainbow in these designs.

rainbow calsilica

A brightly striped material that appeared in Southwest jewelry in recent decades. Gem laboratories have classified it as man-made — pigments and epoxy, not a natural stone — so it must be identified as an imitation.

Rainbow Man

A rainbow figure used as a design motif by both Zuni and Navajo jewelers. Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) call it a popular Zuni guardian spirit, described as either male or female, and say most Rainbow figures are rendered in mosaic and inlay on silver for rings, pins, pendants and earrings. Bedinger (1973) places the Zuni Rainbow and Sun god designs after Knife-Wing; Bassman & Bassman (2006) caption it "Rainbow God." (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 148; Bedinger 1973, p. 148; Bassman and Bassman 2006, pp. 14, 28). It is also captioned Rainbow God. Dubin (1999) shows Zuni channel-work Rainbow god pins by Teddy Weahkee (1925, 1929) and Frank Vacit (1946). Dubin calls Weahkee the first contemporary Zuni to make inlay jewelry. Lund (1976) and Stacey (1975) list the Rainbow God among the figures of Zuni channel and mosaic work (Dubin 1999, p. 506; Lund 1976, p. 71; Stacey 1975, p. 38).

raindrops

Small balls of melted silver soldered onto a piece as decoration. Adair (1944) records "raindrops" as the curio dealers' name. Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) note that smiths often just say "drops" or "shots," and that "teardrops" is mainly a dealers' and collectors' word. Bedinger (1973) stresses that they represent neither rain nor tears. Baxter dates their peak use to the 1920s through the 1940s and notes they were still made as of 2000. Not the same as drop, a hanging element (Adair 1944, p. 86; Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 149; Bedinger 1973, p. 44; Bahti 2007, p. 136).

raised inlay

Inlay in which each stone is left rounded on top instead of ground flat, so the finished surface is domed rather than level.

random cluster

Random cluster designs are when the grouping of stones are dispersed in a seemingly random fashion, and there is not really a pattern to the order of the stones. However, the stones are usually placed evenly and equidistant. The artists have to make careful measurements of the stones and their placement to make all the stones fit evenly in a desired area. Therefore, these designs may not be as random as the name suggests.

ranger buckle

A matched set of belt hardware for a narrow strap — buckle, keeper and tip, sometimes with a second keeper as a four-piece set. In Southwest work the pieces carry matching stampwork or stones so the set reads as one design.

raw

A precious stone or metal that has been pulled straight from the earth and has not undergone any processing.

Reconstituted Turquoise

At T.Skies we use this term for: turquoise ground all the way to powder and re-formed with resin or epoxy into a solid that is cut like stone. Unlike composite, no pieces are visible. It does not have the same characteristics as solid turquoise and needs special care. Powdered stone mixed with resin; imitation turquoise.

reconstitution

When fine fragments are to small to be used they are bonded together to form a larger solid mass. Many times other substances are added to the mixture making many “reconstituted” substances artificial.

recycled

At T.Skies we use this term for: material that was used before, in a finished piece, and is used again.

repousse

Repousse style is another design technique that uses a hammer to shape the jewelry also known as forge work. Unlike stamp work and file work that stamp designs into the metal, repousse work is created when the artist uses a hammer and post on one side of the piece and some kind of shaped template on the other side. The metal will take the shape of the desired template causing the metal to have large indentions. These indentions of different shapes and sizes can be presented in various patterns that form the design

reticulation

Heating silver alloy with a torch until the top layer melts and flows into an irregular, rippled texture. Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) describe it as creating a "fire skin." Patrick Smith, quoted by Jacka (1995), compares the result to a topographic map and notes that a design scratched in first will show through. Baxter adds that it is often confused with granulation. See granulation (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 151; Jacka 1995, pp. 50, 69).

revival style

New jewelry made to look like older pieces. Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) define it as "the deliberate reproduction and imitation of older designs, motifs, and forms to create a modern jewelry piece that looks like (or is reminiscent of) much older pieces." Writing in 1954, Tanner noted that the Navajo Arts and Crafts Guild "has made it a point to revive many of the old styles" and encouraged their production for sale. Adair (1944), describing the government Indian schools, writes that "many of the oldest types of designs have been revived: filed bracelets, cast bracelets and rings, squash-blossom beads, buttons, and conchas." (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 151; Tanner 1954, p. 29; Adair 1944, p. 201).

ring

An article of jewelry that is worn on the finger.

rocker engraving

Decoration cut by rocking a short-bladed chisel corner to corner while pushing it forward, leaving a continuous zigzag line. One of the earliest decorative cuts in Southwest silver.

rolling mill

A machine with two hardened steel rollers, usually hand-cranked, used to flatten silver into sheet. Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) say it has been sold by jewelry supply houses since the 1920s and 1930s. June (2013) notes that a few Native smiths were using hand-cranked mills by the 1920s. See sheet silver (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 153; June 2013, pp. 148, 155).

rope chain

Links set in a spiral so the finished chain twists like laid cord. Not to be confused with rope wire, which is twisted wire used as a single element in silverwork.

rope wire

I set of wires that are braded to form the apearence of a rope and are used as one wire.

row

The row is a type of multi stone design. The row of stones must be in a straight line but can be oriented vertically, horizontally or diagonally. The horizontal row is the most common orientation of stones in Native American jewelry. Another variation of this style is called the multi row design, which describes multiple rows stacked parallel to each other.

Royston

Royston is the name of a turquoise mine and turquoise mining district in southwestern Nevada. Royston is known for its quality dark green to lighter blue color range.

rubber mold

A mold taken from a wax model so that one piece can be cast again and again. Mass manufacturers make several from a single model and cast as many copies as they choose (Lund 1976, p. 130).

S

Sand Casting

Molten metal poured into a sand mold, creating organic texture.

sandcast

An artist sandcasting will use sandstone to carve out a design. This can take from a few hours to a few months to complete relative to the complexity of the design and skill of the artist. A sandstone cast can be used multiple times before the mold degrades.

sandpainting

A picture made of dry, colored sand and pigment on the ground, the most elaborate among the Navajo. Hodge (1907) records the art among Pueblo, Navajo and Apache peoples, made almost always in connection with religious ceremonies. Tryk (1993) describes Navajo sandpainting as part of a sing, a religious healing ceremony. Sandpaintings for sale are a separate, secular craft. Bahti (1989) notes that since the mid-1970s artists have turned increasingly to nonreligious subjects, and that ceremonial practitioners make known their disapproval when a sandpainting comes too close to an exact copy. On silver, stamp designs that resemble sandpainting figures carry no religious meaning: Adair (1944) is clear on this, and Bedinger (1973) repeats him. Also called sand painting or dry painting. See Yei (Hodge 1907, p. 403; Tryk 1993, p. 121; Bahti 1989, p. 47; Adair 1944, p. 101; Bedinger 1973, pp. 111–112; Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 190).

scintillation

The flashes of light produced when a diamond or translucent gemstone reflects a light source.

scratch engraving

Decoration scratched into metal with a needle or a steel awl, leaving a fine shallow line rather than a cut groove.

scrimshaw

Carving or engraving on ivory, often with ink or dye rubbed into the lines. Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) place it with Inuit, southern Alaska and some Northwest Coast artists. Dubin (1999) shows inked scrimshaw in the work of Denise and Samuel Wallace (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 157; Dubin 1999, pp. 106, 126).

seafoam turquoise

A trade name for light, irregular turquoise nuggets set in close to their natural form rather than cut to a shape.

Secondary Market

Resale or collector market for previously owned jewelry.

seed beads

The most numerous of all trade beads: small glass beads, globular and often slightly flattened (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 157).

semiprecious

The old label for gem minerals thought less desirable than the precious stones but still attractive. Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) note that professional lapidaries no longer treat it as a valid term (Lund 1976, p. 137; Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 157).

serpentine

A green magnesium silicate, soft enough to carve easily, long used in the Southwest for fetish carving and inlay.

serrated bezel

A bezel whose edge is cut into teeth that are bent over to hold the stone; also called a saw-toothed bezel. See sharktooth bezel.

set punch

A punch used to strike small circles or dots into silver. Branson (1977) shows two nail set punches used this way. Franciscan Fathers (1910) record a Navajo smith's set punch made from a piece of iron with a hole in it. See stamp (punch) (Branson 1977, p. 55; Franciscan Fathers 1910, p. 276).

Setting

The metal structure that holds a stone in place.

shaded heishi

Heishi strung so that its color shifts by degrees along the strand. Dubin (1999, p. 529) writes that Charles Lovato of Santo Domingo "is credited with the concept of finely shaded heishi, accidentally originated by Clara in 1968 while stringing." ^[17]

shadowbox

A style in which stone, shell or inlay is set at the bottom of a deep silver frame, so the raised walls throw a shadow across the design. Wall depth is the whole effect: too shallow and it reads flat, too deep and the stone disappears into the box. Jacka (1995, p. 72) also dates the style: "This style, introduced in the seventies, is characterized by deep, darkened recesses either highlighted by slightly raised designs or set with stones." ^[5]

Shalako

A Zuni ceremonial figure. Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) write that Zuni jewelers are less likely to represent the Shalako figures than related figures such as the Rain God of the North, which appeared on inlay pins as early as the 1930s. Bassman & Bassman (2006) caption Zuni inlay bola ties and a silver necklace with a Shalako Kachina (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 94; Bassman and Bassman 2006, pp. 31, 34).

shank

A thick wire used as a supporting base or decoration in handmade jewelry.

shank work

Shank work style is jewelry made out of silver wire shanks. Silver and other metals used in jewelry making are sold at supply shops in plates, bars and wires. The wires that reach at least ¼” in diameter can be called shanks. These shanks can take different sizes, from round ¼” wire to thick 1” thick triangular wire. Shank work artists can do many things with them, from weaving smaller shanks together to layering them in different ways. Often, shank work is used to make supportive cuffs for stones and other design elements for bracelets.

sharktooth bezel

A type of bezel that has sharp triangular teeth used to be bent around a stone to hold it in place.

sheet cutter

A hand-cranked, scissor-like machine for cutting sheet and blanks. It often leaves a "scissor" mark (June 2013, p. 132).

sheet silver

Silver bought rolled into flat sheets of set thicknesses, instead of melted down from coins or slugs and hammered out by hand. Sources differ on when it arrived. Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) say it was available by the 1910s but became common only after World War II, while Lund (1976) and Bedinger (1973) put its introduction in the 1920s. By 1954, Tanner calls sheet the more common raw material, and by 1973 Bedinger reports it had replaced slugs entirely. See coin silver, sterling silver (Lund 1976, p. 155; Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 160; Bedinger 1973, p. 187; Tanner 1954, p. 25).

shell

The protective hardened outer organic material created by a mullush or oyster often white but can be found in a variety of colors.

shepherd's hook

A curved ear wire that passes through the piercing and hangs free, named for the crook of a shepherd's staff. Also called a French hook or fishhook.

shibuichi

A Japanese alloy of silver and copper. The name means "one-fourth," and Hougart (2022) gives the alloy as one part silver to three parts copper. Wilson (1912) gives a wider range, 30 to 70 parts silver per 100 parts copper, and explains that the smith sets the color by the share of silver (Hougart 2022, p. 445; Wilson 1912, pp. 383–384).

shop mark

A mark stamped on jewelry to identify the store or workshop that made or sold it, rather than an individual artist. Bahti (2007) defines it as a hallmark used by a store or workshop, and spells it "shopmark." Hougart (2022) lists shop and manufacturer marks separately from artists' hallmarks and notes that some belong to companies that mass-produced designs, which may or may not have used Native labor. A shop mark identifies a business, not a maker. See hallmark (Bahti 2007, pp. 86, 209; Hougart 2022, p. 353; Wright 2003, p. 71).

shoulder

The part of the shank that widens as it rises to meet the setting, on either side of the stone.

silver

A white metal that is very ductile and takes a high polish (chemical symbol Ag). Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) call it the metal most often chosen by Native American jewelers. For jewelry it is usually alloyed with copper: sterling is at least 925 parts silver in 1,000, and coin silver is 900. The Navajo word appears in print as bé slagai (Adair 1944) and Peshlakai (Hougart 2022). See sterling silver, coin silver, fine silver (Hougart 2022, pp. 444–445; Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 160; Adair 1944, p. 212).

silver acid test

A spot test in which acid is applied to a small scratch in the metal and the color of the reaction indicates silver content. It is the standard bench test where a hallmark is absent or not trustworthy, and it leaves a mark.

silver beads

Hollow round beads made from two domed halves soldered together. Lund (1976) describes the halves cut as discs from thin sheet with a pipe-shaped cutter and then domed. Branson (1977) believes the bead evolved from two Spanish clothing buttons soldered face to face, and Bedinger (1973) records the tradition that Shorty-Silver-Maker made the first hollow ones. Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) note they were first made by hand and spherical, and that by the mid-twentieth century many were partly machine-made and came in other shapes. See Navajo pearl, doming (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 161; Branson 1977, p. 37; Lund 1976, p. 123; Bedinger 1973, p. 20).

Silver Hand

A State of Alaska seal marking art made by hand by an Alaska Native artist. Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) note that some products "are marked by a 'Silver Hand' symbol, used to indicate authenticity." The seal belongs to the Alaska State Council on the Arts, which states that it "indicates that the artwork on which it appears is created by hand in Alaska by an individual Alaska Native artist." A 2016 federal rule calls it "the State of Alaska Silver Hand program." (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 85; Alaska State Council on the Arts, "Silver Hand Program"; Federal Register 81, no. 117, 2016, p. 39619).

silver plated

A base metal that has been covered in an outer layer of silver.

silver solder

Solder containing silver and melting at a high temperature; the same material as hard solder, named for its content rather than its melting point.

silversmith (metalsmith)

A Native American Jewely artist that works with silver.

single stone

The single stone style is one of the most common designs in Native American jewelry. The single stone style literally means one stone. The single stone is usually the centerpiece of the jewelry and other designs are in place to accent the stone’s unique qualities and beauty. There are many types of gemstones and natural materials that are commonly used as center-stones in the single stone style. Keep in mind that we refer to all these materials as “stones” though some of them are natural organic materials.

skystone

A name for turquoise. Lowry (2002) calls turquoise a "sky stone" to the native peoples of the American Southwest, and Carl Rosnek, quoted by Turnbaugh (2007), writes that for Indians of the Southwest turquoise "represents the sky." (Lowry 2002, p. 1; Turnbaugh 2007, p. 59).

slug

A small square ingot of silver that traders supplied to smiths in place of coins. Lund (1976) says the trader John J. Kirk asked a refinery for them: one-ounce squares of coin silver, used until the 1940s. Adair, writing in 1944, describes Los Angeles refinery slugs, an ounce each, about an inch and a half square, and between .900 and .925 fine, then used almost everywhere in place of Mexican pesos (Lund 1976, p. 32; Adair 1944, p. 56).

slug bracelet

A bracelet carrying punched emblems, or "emblem slugs" (June 2013). Not the silver ingot; see slug (June 2013, p. 100).

snake chain

A chain of tightly fitted plates or rings forming a smooth, round, flexible tube with no visible gaps.

Snake Dancer

The Hopi Snake Dance is closed to non-Natives. Out of respect for the Hopi community, we cannot speak to it or share information about it here.

snake eyes

A cluster of very small perfectly round stones, each set in its own bezel. The trade also describes it as petit point cut with round rather than pointed stones.

soapstone

A soft, fine-grained stone of talc and chlorite, also called steatite, with a soapy feel. It cuts and carves easily, is often enhanced by dyeing and heating, and runs in color from pale whitish-tan to green or brown (Lund 1976, p. 155; Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 163).

sodalite

A blue sodium aluminum silicate, often mistaken for lapis lazuli or deliberately substituted for it. Its blue is less intense than that of lapis (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 163).

solder

A metal that melts at a low tempature used to join metals together.

Soldering

Joining metals using heat and silver solder.

spacer

A small bead or disc set between larger elements to control their placement and rhythm along a strand.

spiderweb

A pattern of matrix that looks like a spider web.

Spiny Oyster

Colorful shell (orange, purple, red) used in Southwestern jewelry.

split ring

A jump ring wound in a double coil, like a key ring, so it cannot pull open under load.

spring lock clasp

A type of clasp that uses a small spring to keep the clasped locked.

spring ring

A hollow ring with a spring-loaded gate that retracts under a small lever. The same mechanism as the spring lock clasp already listed here.

squash blossom

The petaled silver bead strung at intervals along a squash blossom necklace, on either side of the naja. Our full guide covers the form, its Spanish and Mexican antecedents, and how to date one: What Is a Squash Blossom Necklace. Several older sources read the shape as a pomegranate, a Spanish and Mexican ornament: Woodward (1946) calls "squash blossom" a misnomer, Frank & Holbrook (1990) say the design probably derives from Spanish or Mexican prototypes and, if anything, represents a pomegranate flower; and Lund (1976) traces it to silver pomegranates worn as Spanish trouser ornaments (Woodward 1946, pp. 35–36, 50; Frank and Holbrook 1990, p. 204; Lund 1976, p. 154).

stabilization

Also known as bonding, stabilization is the binding of turquoise or other natural substances with plastic or glass to increase the durability.

stabilized enhanced

At T.Skies we use this term for: stabilized turquoise that has also been dyed or hardened. Every treatment that applies should be listed.

Stabilized Turquoise

At T.Skies we use this term for: clear resin that locks in and protects the stone's own color and integrity. Treated with resin to increase durability and preserve color. The IACB (2010, p. 2) adds that stabilizing also darkens the color.

stamp (punch)

A tool used to engrave a specific design or hallmark in metal. Lund (1976) describes the first Navajo stamp as the end of a small pipe struck into the metal, cutting a crescent (Lund 1976, p. 22).

stamp blank

A length of carbon steel from which a smith cuts and files his own stamp. Because the blank is hand-cut, a stamp is effectively a signature.

stamp shadow

The trace of hand-stamping that shows through on the inside of the plate; June (2013) treats it as an indicator of handmade work (June 2013, p. 133).

stampwork

For stamp work the artist uses a metal stamp and hammers the design into the metal of the piece. The artists can then create beautiful designs using this repeated technique in patterns with single or multiple stamps.

station necklace

A chain carrying beads or stones spaced at intervals along its length rather than massed at the center.

step cut

A faceted cut of long parallel facets in rows, like steps. It gives depth and flashes of color rather than sparkle, and is the usual cut for emeralds.

sterling silver

Silver that contains 92.5% silver and 7.5% other metals. Sterling silver is the most commonly use base material in the Native American Jewelry industry. It is fairly valuable but not too expensive to be impractical for an artist to use. Although it is less pure than fine silver it is less soft which allows it to be a better base material to work with.

stone to stone inlay

Stone to stone inlay is much more common in modern Native American jewelry. The style is recognized by the stones being in direct contact with one another. The stones are held in place by other stones, the sidewalls of the area of the design, and a strong stone epoxy. It takes a lot of talent to measure and hand cut the stones to fit perfectly together.

storm pattern

A Navajo rug design woven in the western part of the reservation, around Tuba City (Bahti 1989; Tryk 1993). The owned books record the name and the region but not what the pattern represents, and none records it as a jewelry motif (Bahti 1989, p. 30; Tryk 1993, pp. 171, 177; Schaaf 2003, p. 212).

Storyteller

A figural design of a seated elder, mouth open in mid-story, covered in small listening children, honoring Pueblo oral tradition. It is not ancient: it was originated by Cochiti Pueblo potter Helen Cordero in 1964 and later adapted from pottery into cast-silver pendants and pins.

strand

A single continuous line of strung beads. The count of these in a necklace is how bead work is usually described — a two-strand, a five-strand.

stud

An earring sitting flush to the lobe on a post, with no hanging element.

sugilite

A purple manganese-bearing mineral, mined chiefly in South Africa, which entered Southwest inlay work in the 1980s. Its intense violet has no natural counterpart among Southwest stones.

Sunface

A round face representing the sun, a Pueblo symbol and a signature Zuni inlay design. Zuni jewelers use three colors for it: white shell for the lower face, and red coral and blue turquoise for the forehead, often within a border of sun rays or feathers. The round form suits rings, pins and pendants, or the center of a larger piece (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, pp. 168–169). Jewelry captions also call it the Sun God or Sun Kachina; Bassman & Bassman (2006) caption Zuni raised-inlay rings and movable bracelets that way (Bassman and Bassman 2006, p. 34). Dubin (1999) shows a Sun-god pin in Zuni channel work by Dan Simplicio, made in 1939. Turnbaugh (2007) calls a mosaic version by J.D. Massif "the Sunface kachina." (Dubin 1999, p. 506; Turnbaugh 2007, p. 56).

sweat soldering

Joining two pieces of silver by heating them evenly until solder between them melts and runs through the joint. Lund (1976) calls a piece joined this way "sweated." The method is central to overlay and appliqué: Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) describe appliqué pieces set on a soldering screen and "sweated" into place, and Tanner (1954) describes overlay as two identical thin pieces sweated together. See overlay, appliqué (Lund 1976, p. 155; Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 4; Tanner 1954, p. 32; Stacey 1975, p. 79).

swedging

Forming silver into a ridged or fluted band by hammering it into the grooves of an iron swedging block, which leaves ridges on top and matching grooves underneath. Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) date it to Pueblo and Navajo smiths around 1880. Lund (1976) names only Navajo smiths, and records that, as of 1976, it had never been widely used and few pieces survived. Baxter adds that it was abandoned for most of the twentieth century and revived by some fine-art jewelers in the 1980s and 1990s (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 170; Lund 1976, pp. 29, 155; Bedinger 1973, p. 92).

synthetic turquoise

A man-made material with the chemistry and physical properties of turquoise, as opposed to an imitation, which only looks like it. Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) draw that line; Lund (1976) uses "synthetic" more loosely for anything made to imitate or replace the real thing. Pogue (1915) already describes a manufactured synthetic turquoise that ordinary tests could not always tell from the natural stone. Adair (1944) notes lab turquoise could even carry a simulated matrix. Baxter dates a more realistic product to the 1970s. See imitation turquoise, block turquoise (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 170; Lund 1976, p. 155; Pogue 1915, p. 131; Adair 1944, p. 200).

T

tab turquoise

Turquoise cut into "an elongated, slightly flattened tabular form" (Baxter & Bird-Romero 2000). Bahti (2007) defines the tab necklace as "a stone or shell bead necklace alternating with larger flat tabs of stone or shell." (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 171; Bahti 2007, p. 210).

table facet

A large facet on the top of a gem above the crown

Tax-Deductible Donation

A jewelry donation eligible for charitable tax credit through a 501(c)(3).

tempering

Reheating hardened steel to a lower heat and quenching it again, so that a tool becomes tougher and less likely to chip. Branson (1977) gives the two steps for stamps: first harden by heating to a cherry red and quenching in water, then temper by reheating to a set color, amber or purple for silver stamps, and quenching again. Frank (1990) glosses "temper" simply as "to harden steel," but Branson's two-step account is the precise one. See stamp (punch) (Branson 1977, p. 55; Frank 1990, p. 204).

template

A cut-out pattern, usually metal, traced onto silver to transfer a design. Wright (2003) defines it for overlay, where the design is traced onto the top sheet and then cut out with a jeweler's saw. Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) describe designs drawn on cut-out aluminum templates. Lapidaries use templates too, to cut stones to a set shape. See overlay (Wright 2003, p. 133; Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 190; Manley 1975, p. 73; Branson 1979, p. 48).

tension setting

A setting in which the stone is held by the sprung pressure of the metal alone, with no bezel or prongs. It demands a hard stone and precise work.

terminal caps

Decorative metal pieces that cover the ends of a strip of metal wire, plate of cuff.

threader

A fine chain drawn through the piercing and left to hang on both sides.

Thunderbird

A supernatural bird-being, found across many Native nations with distinct meanings, whose wingbeats are said to bring thunder and whose eyes flash lightning. In Southwest silverwork it has appeared since the 1860s on squash-blossom necklaces, concho belts, and stamped cuffs, generally invoking rain and abundance.

tie tac

A short pin with a separate clutch on the reverse, worn through a necktie to hold it to the shirt.

tiger eye

A variety of semiprecious lusterous quartz that apears yellowish brown.

tinklers

Small metal pendants hung from fringe so that they ring with movement. Dubin (1999) records that metal tinklers replaced the rattling deer dewclaws once used on garment fringe. Bahti (1989) describes them at the bottom of long buckskin fringes, and Tryk (1993) on baskets with leather strips (Dubin 1999, p. 35; Bahti 1989, p. 35; Tryk 1993, p. 164).

tobacco canteen

A small silver flask in the shape of an army canteen, made to carry tobacco. Also called a tobacco case, tobacco flask, or miniature canteen. Matthews (1883) found only three or four Navajo smiths making them and called the design very recent; by 1944 Adair counted the form exceedingly rare. Its origin is disputed. Adair traces it to the flat rawhide tobacco cases carried by Mexicans of the Rio Grande valley, and his informant Grey Moustache said Mexicans made silver ones and sold them to the Navajo before the Navajo worked silver. Tryk (1993) says early Navajo smiths copied U.S. soldiers' leather canteens. Frank & Holbrook (1990) describe it as a novelty made mainly for sale to soldiers, while Adair records a few made by smiths for their own people (Matthews 1883, pp. 171–172; Adair 1944, pp. 7, 12, 51; Frank and Holbrook 1990, p. 204; Tryk 1993, pp. 63, 71).

toggle clasp

A clasp closed by passing a bar through a ring and letting it turn crosswise to catch. Simple, visible, and often made a decorative feature in its own right.

tortoise shell

The shell of a sea turtle, once used in inlay and heishi. Manley (1975) records that a trader introduced it at Zuni in the 1940s, where it was used in mosaic, and that Zuni and Santo Domingo smiths both used it in heishi. Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) note that pen shell has become the substitute for tortoise shell in inlay. See penn shell (Manley 1975, p. 84; Bassman and Bassman 2006, p. 20; Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 159).

tourist jewelry

Jewelry made for sale to non-Native buyers. Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) define it as jewelry "made from either genuine or imitation materials and meant expressly for sale to non-native consumers," also known as souvenir or curio jewelry. Jacka (1995) writes that much of it "was made of nickel and decorated with small imitation-turquoise stones," that such pieces were "sometimes referred to as 'Route 66' jewelry" for the many shops selling it along that highway, and that they were stamped "nickel silver." See curio, Fred Harvey jewelry (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 175; Jacka 1995, p. 25).

tourmaline

A faceted gem mineral in many colors, from pinkish-green "watermelon" stones to tricolor blue, green and yellow (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 176).

trade beads

Glass beads made in Europe for trade with Native peoples. Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) describe them as small, opaque, solid-colored or patterned, and made mostly in Bohemia and Venice. Dubin (1999) places glass beads among the first European goods exchanged with Native North Americans, and Manley (1975) records glass and coral trade beads brought by the Spanish to the Southwest by at least 1750 (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 177; Dubin 1999, p. 172; Manley 1975, p. 92).

trade silver

Silver ornaments made by European-American settlers to trade or present to Native peoples. Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) define it as "objects of personal adornment, originally produced by European-American settlers for trade or presentation to native inhabitants." Dubin (1999) writes that silver adornment "became important to the fur trade during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries." Bedinger (1973) notes that it had "only slight, indirect influence on Southwest smiths." (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 178; Dubin 1999, p. 183; Bedinger 1973, p. 104).

trader tokens

Metal tokens issued by Indian traders, good only at the issuing post. June (2013) writes that "many Indian traders stamped out metal tokens, redeemable only at their own trading post," and that one, "known locally as a 'tin dollar,'" was produced by Lorenzo Hubbell at Ganado Trading Post in present-day Arizona. Turnbaugh (2007) notes that many traders paid native artisans with tokens for their jewelry, rugs, baskets and other handicrafts, which the craftsmen could then spend on the post's foodstuffs and supplies. Also tin dollar. See due bill (June 2013, p. 25; Turnbaugh 2007, p. 24).

trading post

A store run by a trader for commerce with Native communities. Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) define trading posts as "establishments run by traders or by trading companies, originally to trade and pursue commerce with the native populations." Bahti (1989): "To many Indians a trading post is more than just a place to buy and sell goods. It is a social center, a post office, and an employment agency. It also once served as a pawn shop and bank." See Indian trader, pawn (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 179; Bahti 1989, p. 18).

transitional period

The years 1900 to 1930 in Southwestern Indian jewelry, after the first phase. Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) write that the term "has been attached to the time between 1900 and 1930," when craft developments ensued, "aided by growing tourism." Frank (1990) gives the same dates and writes that in this period "the tourist market finally dominated the production of jewelry and brought an end to first phase jewelry-making." See first phase (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 56; Frank 1990, pp. 7, 204).

travertine

A stone formed in mineral and hot springs, per Turnbaugh (2007); Hodge (1910) files it with marble. It appears in Southwest work as a carving and inlay material. Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) name it among the principal materials of the Zuni carver Deyuse, and Bassman & Bassman (2006) show fetish bears carved from it (Hodge 1910, p. 639; Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 44; Bassman and Bassman 2006, p. 23; Turnbaugh 2007, p. 88).

treated turquoise

At T.Skies we use this term for: anything added beyond cutting (oil, wax, resin or any other additive, cooked or soaked in). Treated stone is labeled stabilized, enhanced, or stabilized enhanced, and the treatment should be disclosed. Turquoise altered after mining by any means — resin, oil or wax, dye, sealant or a proprietary process — to improve its hardness, color or surface. The category covers everything that is not natural turquoise.

triangle wire

Commercially drawn silver wire with a triangular cross-section, used for bracelets. It is not the same as a carinated bar: June (2013) notes that a hand-forged carinated bar shows a pounded inner face that commercial triangle wire lacks. Frank (1990) dates triangular-wire bracelets to around 1920, and Branson (1977) shows triangle bracelets stamped and assembled from segments. See carinated (June 2013, p. 150; Branson 1977, p. 59; Frank 1990, p. 119).

Tribal Style

Design elements reflecting the traditional art of a specific Native Nation (e.g., Navajo stampwork, Zuni inlay).

tsil no'oli

The Navajo name for the whirling log; see Whirling Log.

tufa

A porus rock made of calcium carbonate used for casting.

tufa cast

Tufa casting is done my using volcanic stone called tufa to do the cast work. Tufa is generally more fragile than sandstone and can be used only once before it has a tendency to crack. This is used many times by artists who want to have a one of a kind bracelet, and prove that it is the only one by delivering the tufa block along with the item.

tumbled stone

"Stone tumbling is a process whereby rough or inferior quality gemstones can be shaped and polished into unusual but attractive forms through the action of abrasion" (Baxter & Bird-Romero 2000). June (2013) describes tumbling as "a rolling-barrel process," in which items "are freely tossed about inside a cylinder for lengthy periods of time, often among various shot, grit and polishing compounds." (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 181; June 2013, p. 92).

Turquoise

A blue-green copper-based stone symbolic of protection and harmony.

turquoise fingerprint

A pattern of coloration and matrix asscociated with a paricular turquoise mine.

turtle

A turtle design. Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) write that the turtle often stands for Mother Earth among many Native peoples, and that in Southwest designs it is a water symbol; its meaning on jewelry depends on its maker's heritage. Bedinger (1973) counts turtles among life forms common on jewelry and not restricted to any tribe. Jacka (1995) describes a turtle pendant Jesse Monongye made to honor his grandmother, whose teachings often included stories of the turtle. It appears in Zuni inlay and fetishes and in Hopi overlay. Navajo weavers of 1910 avoided it as a design (Franciscan Fathers 1910). For turtle shell as a material, see tortoise shell (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 183; Bedinger 1973, p. 190; Jacka 1995, p. 53; Franciscan Fathers 1910, p. 251).

tweezers

Small spring tweezers of silver or brass, made by Navajo smiths for plucking facial hair. They are also called whisker pullers. Adair (1944) reports that most Navajo men preferred brass, which kept its spring longer than silver. Tanner (1954) describes them as used by Navajo men generally in her day (Adair 1944, pp. 53, 212; Tanner 1954, p. 32; Branson 1977, p. 5).

twisted wire bezel

A bezel finished with a length of twisted wire soldered around its base, adding a rope-like border between stone and setting.

U

UITA

The United Indian Traders Association, and the stamp it licensed to its members. Bedinger (1973) dates the association to 1946 and writes that it "licensed the use of a stamp to their members bearing the letters UITA and an arrow point, with a number to identify the member." A 1946 editor's note in Woodward (1946) reports that the association that year "announced a code of standards for hand made silver." Sources differ on when the association began: Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) give 1931, and June (2013) has it formed in 1931 and licensing stamps in 1946 (Bedinger 1973, p. 121; Woodward 1946, p. 49; Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 82; June 2013, pp. 15–16).

upcycled

At T.Skies we use this term for: scrap stone that was never used, such as cut-offs and clippings from cutting, made into usable material such as composite or chip inlay.

U.S. Navajo, U.S. Zuni

The government marks stamped on silver that met the Indian Arts and Crafts Board's standards. Adair (1944) writes that finished work was inspected by a representative of the board and, if it met "the prescribed standards of hand craftsmanship," stamped with a small mark on the underside: "U.S. NAVAJO and U.S. ZUNI are the marks that are used, with a number designating the trading post or the Indian school where the piece was made." Bedinger (1973) dates the voluntary standards and the government stamp to February 1937. See Government mark (Adair 1944, p. 201; Bedinger 1973, p. 120).

Utahlite

A rare stone similar to turquoise and capable of a high polish. Hodge (1910) describes it as a hydrous phosphate of aluminum noted in certain prehistoric ruins in Utah, and Kunz (1909) describes it as golden green, often banded with yellow (Hodge 1910, p. 874; Kunz 1909, p. 40).

V

varicoise

A stone that is either a mix between turquoise and variscite or can not be determined if it is one or the other without labatory testing.

variscite

A blueish gren gem stone that looks very simular to turquoise.

vegetable ivory

The hard white seed of the ivory palm, or tagua plant, known as an "ivory nut." (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 88).

vein turquoise

Turquoise deposited in a fracture in the host rock, which comes out as flat plates or seams. Also called seam turquoise, and the reason some mines yield stones with a natural flat back.

Vintage

A piece old enough to be collectible but not antique — by common trade convention roughly twenty to a hundred years old. The FTC Jewelry Guides define no age terms at all, so this is a convention rather than a standard.

W

wad cutter

A cutter made for cork or paper wads for muzzle-loading shotguns, which silversmiths use to cut round blanks for buttons. Branson (1977) notes it was still sold in several sizes as of 1977. Turnbaugh (2007) shows one cutting a button blank (Branson 1977, p. 10; Turnbaugh 2007, p. 47).

wampum

Shell beads, strung on lines or woven into belts, used historically by the Native peoples of the eastern Woodlands and Great Lakes as currency and as a means of carrying messages between leaders, including the terms of peace treaties. Hodge’s Handbook records that the beads were made from several kinds of shell gathered on both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, and that the word is a shortened form of the New England Algonquian wampumpeak (Hodge, ed., 1910, p. 904; Baxter 2000, p. 187).

watch tips

The silver end pieces that join a watch face to a metal expansion band. Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) note that most Native-made "watchbands" are in fact watch tips, made for both men and women, and call the watchband a tourist-jewelry form made more regularly after 1940. Branson (1977) shows women's versions with rings soldered on to fit both the watch and the band. See watchband (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 187; Bassman and Bassman 2006, p. 39; Branson 1977, p. 41).

watchband

A silver bracelet built to carry a watch case, usually hinged in two halves with the design worked to either side of the face.

Water Bird

A rain-and-renewal bird motif of Plains origin, closely associated with the Native American Church and also called the Peyote Bird. Distinct from the Southwest Thunderbird, it was adopted by Zuni jewelers in the 1960s in inlaid pins, bracelets, and stylized squash-blossom necklaces.

waterweb matrix

A softly defined web, created either by a pale host rock or by darker spheres of turquoise surrounding lighter ones within the same formation. The pattern reads as a blur rather than a hard line.

wave bezel

A type of bezel that is cut in a wave pattern. The crests of the waves can be bent to hold a stone in place.

wax

The substance a jeweler carves into a prototype for casting; it holds a firm shape (Lund 1976, p. 156).

waxing

Waxes and oils can be used as treatments to enhance the color and shine of a stone on a piece of jewelry. At T.Skies we count stone treated this way as enhanced.

wear marks

Abrasion from skin and clothing, showing up in the obvious and logical places on a piece that has been worn (Lund 1976, p. 117).

Whirling Log

A four-armed rotational motif, a form of cross with each arm bent at the end; in the Navajo version the arms are bent in the opposite direction from the conventional swastika (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 170). Traders encouraged it as an interval or repeating pattern on jewelry. Artisans and traders abandoned it in the late 1930s in disapproval of Nazi Germany's use of the swastika, and since the 1970s it has reappeared as a revival-style design, often in the form reversed from the Nazi version (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 170). We treat it as a culturally sensitive motif.

white brass

An older name for the nickel-and-copper alloy also called German silver. See nickel silver (German silver).

White Gold / Rose Gold / Yellow Gold

Alloys of gold with metals that change color.

white metal

A cheap silver-colored base-metal alloy, often passed off as silver. Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) describe makers of imitation Indian jewelry using unspecified alloys "known as 'white metal'" and note that the "sterling" stamp spread partly to counter it. Branson (1975) describes plastic stones in factory-made white metal mountings. The phrase has an older, unrelated sense: in early Navajo accounts, "white metal" simply means silver. See sterling silver, nickel silver (German silver) (Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, pp. 79, 168, 175; Branson 1975, p. 9; Woodward 1946, pp. 72–73).

windows

Deposits that the plastic used in treating turquoise leaves in the stone's surface cavities. Lund says treated stones often look as if painted with several coats of clear nail polish (Lund 1976, p. 144).

wire

Metal that has been been formed into a rod or flexible thread.

wire work

The process of using metal wires to create artistic designs

wristguard

A leather band worn on the bow arm to take the snap of the string, usually faced with a worked silver plaque. The Navajo word is ketoh; see bowguard.

wrought (forge)

To be shapped by beating with a hammer.

Y

Yei

The Yei are the Navajo Holy People, supernatural beings who mediate between people and the divine and appear in healing ceremonies and sandpaintings. The masked dancers who impersonate them in the Nightway ceremony are called Yei-bi-chai, and stylized Yei figures appear in cast-silver pendants, bolos, and cuffs.

Yeibichai

The Navajo name for the dancers who portray the Yei, the Holy People, in Navajo sacred dances (Bassman 1997). It is also a name for the Night Chant, taken from its leading figure, as the Franciscan Fathers (1910) record. Adair (1944) notes that the Navajo wore the most silver at large gatherings, including a Yeibichai. On jewelry, stylized Yei figures were rare before the 1950s. Baxter & Bird-Romero (2000) write that their use on decorative objects is not officially sanctioned, while Jacka (1995) calls them a prominent subject in Navajo jewelry. Also written Yei-bi-chai. See Yei (Bassman 1997, p. 76; Franciscan Fathers 1910, pp. 364, 377; Adair 1944, p. 98; Baxter and Bird-Romero 2000, p. 190; Jacka 1995, p. 106).

Z

Zachery process

A patented enhancement that introduces a formula into the structure of medium-grade turquoise to deepen and even its color, without the resin of ordinary stabilization. Its originator recommended describing the result as "micro-crystalline structurally enhanced by the Zachery process." At T.Skies we count stone treated this way as enhanced.

Zia sun

The symbol of the Pueblo of Zia in New Mexico, drawn as a circle with rays going out in four directions, four rays to each group. It belongs to the Pueblo of Zia; it isn't a Navajo symbol or a general "Native American" one. In the Pueblo's own words, it represents "harmony and the interconnectedness of the four directions, the four seasons, the four stages of life, and the four parts of the day." Tryk (1993) notes the Zia sun sign painted in black and red on Zia pottery. T.Skies uses the Zia sun symbol with permission and the blessing of the Pueblo of Zia (Pueblo of Zia, letter to Turquoise Skies Inc., Sept. 19, 2025; Tryk 1993, p. 108).

Field Notes by Mateo James

Field Notes by Mateo James: our glossary reads the double-barred cross as a Zuni dragonfly, while Holbrook leaves it open between a Christian symbol and a stylized dragonfly. I record the disagreement rather than choose one reading.

Field Notes by Mateo James: our glossary ties coin silver jewelry to any date before the 1964 end of silver coinage, while Turnbaugh's glossary ties the term to jewelry made from melted coins in the 19th century. I record the two framings side by side rather than choose between them.

I notice Lois Essary Jacka, writing in 1995, called "sandcast" a mistaken name for the carved-stone casting Navajo smiths use, while this glossary lists sand casting as its own method with a sand mold. I have added her description beside the entries rather than change them.

I notice that our glossary entry for tufa calls it a calcium carbonate rock, while Adair (1944, p. 63), whose sample was identified by a geologist, wrote that the casting stone Navajo smiths used was tuff, a volcanic ash similar to pumice. Our own tufa article also describes the stone as volcanic. I show both so the difference is visible.

In three glossary entries our wording and Baxter's 2000 encyclopedia part ways. We describe a melon bead as round and deeply grooved; Baxter describes melon beads as hollow silver beads, slightly elongated and pointed at each end. We call serpentine soft enough to carve easily, where Baxter says its hardness kept early jewelry-makers from working it with hand tools, and we define tufa as a calcium carbonate rock, where Baxter calls it a soft volcanic ash, or pumice. I show both versions of each.

Sources

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