EARLY NAVAJO TUFA CAST BRACELET

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EARLY NAVAJO TUFA CAST BRACELET*SOLD*

Artist: Unknown

Circa: 1940's

Provenance: Private collection, RB

Quantity in Stock:(Out of Stock)

Availability: Usually Ships in 2 to 3 Business Days
Product Code: ERN2

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Description

This lovely early tufa cast bracelet features a beautiful design, with the overall integrity of the bracelet in excellent condition. A beautiful gem grade, Morenci stone graces the center. It measures 1 1/4" wide, tapering to 1" at bottom terminals. The interior of the cuff measuring 6 1/8" with a opening gap of 1 1/8".

Metal jewelry was introduced to the Navajo Indians by Plains tribes. In the mid-1860s, Navajo silversmithing began with the work of Atsidi Sani. The first silver jewelry-makers were Navajos living on the reservation. The practice of forming silver into objects of personal adornment soon spread to the Hopi and Zuni tribes. Casting silver was one of the earliest methods of making conchas, buttons, rings and bracelets.

Early Navajo artisans developed a labor-intensive process for making silver jewelry called casting. Mexican and American silver coins were melted in crucibles with torches or over fires stoked by hide bellows. The molten metal was then poured into one-of-a-kind molds carved from volcanic tufa stone, moistened sand or harder sedimentary sandstone. Jewelry items such as bracelets were often cast flat, then worked into a rounded shape. The porous nature of the stone left distinctive pits and imperfections in the finished product.

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