THE REAL STORY OF TURQUOISE-IN-SILVER JEWELRY

First-time travelers visiting the American Southwest are often awed by the availability and sheer abundance of beautiful turquoise-in-silver jewelry

- STEVE VOYNICK

Commonly known as “Indian jewelry,” this style is so deeply ingrained into the regional culture that it might seem to be an ancient tradition. But turquoise-in-silver jewelry only originated only in the 1880s through an unlikely combination of cultural, economic and technical influences.

THE BEGINNING 

Mexican blacksmiths first taught Native Americans the rudiments of ironworking in the 1840s. Navajos later applied these skills to easily workable silver, fashioning such ornaments as pendants, bracelets, necklaces and disks called “conchos”—named after the Spanish concha, or “shell”—for decorating belts and hatbands.

By the 1870s, silver-working skills had spread to the Hopis and Pueblos, but only a minor craft that served limited tribal markets. But change came rapidly in 1881 when a transcontinental railroad built across northern Arizona and New Mexico carried growing numbers of passengers who were intrigued by “Indian” silver jewelry as the perfect souvenir of their travels. The jewelry market that soon developed offered a rare economic opportunity for Native Americans who had recently been confined to reservations. To enhance the appeal of their silver work they complemented it with what had been the region’s premier gemstone for some 2,000 years—turquoise.

THE TURQUOISE