Silver Gold Cuff Bracelets

For generations, Native American Indians have been creating jewelry, such as silver and gold cuff bracelets, for personal adornment and ceremonial celebration. Some anthropologists have traced the use of turquoise and tooled metal ornaments to pre-historical times in North America.

In the 1800s, Navajo Indian artists began to practice silversmithing under the influence and tutelage of Spanish settlers. For centuries, this technique was preceded by the mining and shaping of gemstones, such as turquoise, and the harvesting of spiny oyster shell.

As a result, the Native American Indian silver cuff bracelet, gold cuff bracelet, silver and gold cuff bracelet, or turquoise silver cuff bracelet that may be purchased today has a deep tradition of jewelry making behind it. In recent years, new raw materials have been introduced to the process of creating handcrafted Sterling Silver and Gold Cuff Bracelets, which includes Coral, Sugilite, Lapis, Opal, Jet, Malachite, Mother of Pearl, Magnesite, Charoite, and Gaspeite. Some Native American artisans prefer to use German silver, which is a nickel alloy. Although Gold is a continually increasing expense and has limited the number of artists who are willing to work with it, it remains popular.

Native American Indian tribes and pueblos are known for particular variations on jewelry design. The materials used in making jewelry were traded for goods and services amongst themselves; therefore, such materials seen throughout all Indian jewelry are Turquoise, Coral, Sterling Silver, and shell. The Zuni Indians are known for their very fine inlay and channel work. The Navajo Indians are recognized as excellent silver workers as can be seen in a handcrafted Tahe Sterling Silver Cuff Bracelet. The Hopi Indians have a unique technique called overlay, in which a layer of silver is cut to express a pattern, and is then soldered over a base sheet of silver to form a bracelet like our Man-in-the-Maze Sterling Silver Bracelet. The Santa Domingo Indian jewelry artisans are particularly adept at heishi and shell overlay.