Unusual Silver Ingot Bracelet

Navajo

About The Unusual Silver Ingot Bracelet

Very unusal, handsome ingot bracelet.  Probably Navajo artist made, it was creatively assembled using salvaged silver during the early 20th century depression era.

Its body is solid, made of two rolled and flattened ingot pieces that were afterwards soldered together side by side. The center seam was filled with a rope twist of two hand-drawn lengths of silver wire after the cuff body was carefully decorated with a repeated straight bar or chisel stamp and a small ring or circle stamp.

The decoration is remarkably even and perfectly counted to the very ends of its overall length. This is in direct contrast to the inside surface of the bracelet which was left to reveal its humble origins--a testament to the artist's ingenuity. 

This striking piece is heavy for its size, created lovingly in the leanest of times, using carefully saved scarce material. This little cuff demonstrates the triumph of at least one artisan's will to create something beautiful and previous for someone loved--in spite of prevailing hardship.  There is more than a little good medicine in this piece.

 

About Navajo

"Dineh or Diné are a Native American people of the Southwestern United States.  They are the second largest federally recognized tribe in the United States with over 300,000 enrolled tribal members as of 2015.  The Navajo reservation occupies over 27,000 square miles of land in Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.  Navajo language is spoken throughout the reservation with most Navajos speaking English as well." excerpted from Wikipedia

 

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Cultures

American Indian, Navajo

Medium

Jewelry

Subject

Keywords

Navajo bracelet, Navajo cuff, silver bracelet, silver cuff