Onyx in Southwest Jewelry: The Black That Stood In

Onyx in Southwest Jewelry: The Black That Stood In

Onyx entered Southwest jewelry as an understudy and stayed on as a lead. The record is unusually blunt about it: onyx was often substituted for jet through the 1920s and 1930s[1]. Where jet is fossil wood, onyx is banded chalcedony, harder and denser, and it takes a mirror polish that jet cannot hold. By the mid-century it had become a material in its own right — Bedinger lists it among the genuinely new arrivals of the period, alongside walrus and elephant ivory, ironwood from southern Arizona, and obsidian[2].

Faceted Onyx Signet Ring — onyx jewelry example
Onyx at work: Faceted Onyx Signet Ring. From the T.Skies gallery.
Bead Maiden: 3-Strand Onyx & Egyptian Turquoise Beads Necklace — onyx jewelry example
Onyx beside turquoise: Bead Maiden: 3-Strand Onyx & Egyptian Turquoise Beads Necklace. From the T.Skies gallery.
Allureium Silver Black Onyx Cuff Bracelet — onyx jewelry example
Onyx in the current collection: Allureium Silver Black Onyx Cuff Bracelet. From the T.Skies gallery.

Onyx in the Masters' Hands

Onyx is a channel-work stone. The Encyclopedia names the standing palette for channel inlay directly — turquoise, onyx, and shell — set into silver compartments normally built from 18-gauge stock, with each stone requiring expert grinding to seat[3]. That is why onyx suits the technique: it is hard enough to take a crisp ground edge without crumbling, so the black lines stay true against the metal. It is also why channel pieces are difficult to repair — the fit that makes them beautiful is the fit that makes them unforgiving[3].

Named hands: Ben Nighthorse works white onyx for inlay, beside pink coral, lapis, malachite, sugilite and turquoise[4]. Loco sets carnelian, obsidian and onyx in hammered silver and gold, drawing on Apache Mountain spirit dancers and the four-pointed morning star[5]. Davida Lister, working since 2017, sets turquoise, coral and onyx in cluster work[6] — the material is still in the current generation's hands, not a period curiosity.

Reading Onyx

Know what you are buying. Most jewelry onyx is Mexican onyx, and its black is not always native to the stone: it runs white to gray to tan, and reaches deep black after treatment with heat. Black and white are the most popular colors among contemporary fine-art jewelers[7]. Heat treatment is standard, stable and permanent — this is not a defect and not a trick, but it is a fact a seller should be willing to state plainly.

Then the substitution question, which runs in both directions. If a piece dates from the 1920s or 1930s, a black stone may be onyx standing in for jet[1]. If it dates from the Depression years, it may be neither: Santo Domingo makers used pieces of phonograph records and automotive battery cases in place of jet or onyx[8], and those improvised mosaics are now collected and valued as the record of that decade.

The practical tell is hardness and weight. Onyx is a quartz — heavy in the hand, cool to the touch, and it holds a sharp unchipped edge where jet and plastic will not.

A note on accuracy. We strive for accuracy, and this page is continuously updated with new information from the artists, their families, and the community. Corrections welcome.

Sources

  1. Encyclopedia of Native American Jewelry, p. 141
  2. Bedinger, Indian Silver, p. 215
  3. Encyclopedia of Native American Jewelry, p. 80
  4. Encyclopedia of Native American Jewelry, p. 171
  5. Encyclopedia of Native American Jewelry, p. 150
  6. Hougart, Native American and Southwestern Silver Hallmarks (5th ed.), p. 250
  7. Encyclopedia of Native American Jewelry, p. 177
  8. Encyclopedia of Native American Jewelry, p. 205

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