In addition to tools required for silversmithing, the silver itself is necessary. The old-time Native American silversmith liked coin silver. The old pesos that the Native Indian silversmiths melted for their jewelry probably were of a good grade of silver. The pesos issued for some years previous and until about 1940 were 0.720 fine and could be used for jewelry. These pesos were 1 5/16", in diameter. Then in about 1947 two new coins were struck. a one-peso piece and a five peso piece. The one peso is 0.500 fine and 1 1/4" in diameter. The five peso is of a good quality of silver, marked 0.900. However, coin silver in sheet from can be obtained from some firms, but sterling silver is stocked wherever jewelers' supplies are sold. Pure silver is too soft for ordinary jewelry work except for bezels. Sterling silver is an alloy of 925 parts pure silver and 75 parts copper, and is known as 925-1000 fine. Sterling silver comes in sheet and wire form. Sterling can be had in thickness of 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, and 26 Brown & Sharp gauge, the smallest number being the thickest metal.

For ordinary work, it is well to buy some 16, 18, and 20 gauge silver perhaps 6 inches wide by whatever length is required. The 6 inch width is suggested because that is the usual length for a bracelet, and that is about the longest piece of silver that will be used for making in Indian jewelry. Twenty-gauge silver is just about 1/32 inches thick, while 16 gauge is about 3/64 inch thick. A piece of 26 gauge silver should be bought for making bezels. Bezels are the little rims soldered to jewelry to hold turquoise or other stones. B & S 26 gauge silver is about 1/64 inches thick. Silver usually is sold by weight, but in ordering, it is customary to state the gauge and the dimensions desired.

Silver wire should also be on hand. This comes in thicknesses ranging from 14 to 30 B. & S. gauge. If a draw plate is among the equipment, the buying of wire is generally simplified as one gauge of wire is all that is necessary because the smaller sizes can be drawn as needed.

It is always easier to work with annealed silver. Silver wire usually comes annealed, but it is sometimes necessary to anneal sheet silver. Hammering silver rends to harden it, and drawing wire through a draw plate also hardens it. For this reason, wire is usually pulled through two holes and then coiled, heated, and immersed in cold water or a pickle solution before drawing it thinner or shaping it.

The unique squash blossom necklace originated by the Navajo from three foreign elements. The silver beads were evidently evolved from two button halves soldered together to make a bead. The buttons were from Spanish clothing decoration. The "squash blossom" was evidently copied from the silver pomegranate blossom seen on the trousers of men from Granada, Spain. The Naja or Crescent shaped pendant was borrowed from the Spanish horse headstall or bridle which in turn was adopted from the Moors who probably got it by way of the Middle east, possibly Mongolia. It was known in many early civilizations; the earliest are solid gold najas found in stone age graves in Ireland. Whatever the origins, the Navajo had the great ability to combine these elements into a beautiful piece of jewelry and the other Indians of the Southwest improved upon it. The Navajo called the squash blossoms themselves "Beads Which Spreads Out"

In the early years Indian jewelry was made with very little or no turquoise. It was not until the mid 1940's that turquoise was a mainstay in Indian jewelry. Not to say that turquoise was not used before this time frame; it was mainly just silver work. Today, to the Indian silversmith, using turquoise in jewelry is almost as necessary as the silver itself. In a lot of Zuni jewelry silver is really just something that holds the turquoise. Most poor turquoise is light light blue and sometimes even white and extremely soft and chalky. Most silversmiths use rich blue stones that are hard and durable. Turquoise can be treated in different ways depending on the methods used by the lapidary or silversmith. Not to be misunderstood, it is almost essential to maintain the deep colors and to maintain the stability of the stone. Even when stones are treated, most of the time the stone is still 99% turquoise. If stones go untreated, over time they will change color and more often than not fall apart at some point.

Here at Alltribes Native American Art and Jewelry we continue to hand craft some of the finest Native American Jewelry on the market. Currently we are pumping out handmade turquoise jewelry, concho belts and bracelets for the holiday season. With great artist like Verna Blackgoat, Tom Ahasteen and Joey McCray we are getting it done.

Alltribes Native American Art is glad to present it's new FACEBOOK PRESENCE! With the help of Wholesale Internet Solutions LLC. Alltribes has always set the bar. Having owned stores all over the American Southwest, Alltribes Indian Art has been the leader and pacesetter online for over 16 years. With Navajo, Hopi and Zuni artists on site, we manufacture and offer some of the finest Native American Jewelry and art on the internet. In addition to providing the web community with excellent Native American made products Alltribes also has a huge warehouse and retail shopping store located in Gilbert Arizona.  

This unbelievable Antique Vintage Native American Jewelry Collection is from the personal collection of Barbra Felsot. Felsot had been in the Native American art and jewelry business for over 40 years, and only purchased the "best of the best" for her own personal collection. Upon her passing, Felsot's husband Mel offered to let us choose 100 extraordinary pieces to add to our already incredible inventory. The rest of her collection will be sold to Native American museums. Mrs. Felsots collection features some of the finest Royston, Carico Lake, Kingman, and Landers turquoise ever put into jewelry. These pieces range from concho belts, squash blossoms, cuff bracelets and rings. Don't miss out on this wonderful opportunity! These pieces of Americana will only increase in value over time.

This mosaic inlay full Rainbow Man Zuni Squash Blossom Necklace was hand crafted by Zuni Artists Herbert and Esther Cellicion, husband and wife. It was first purchased in 1974. The Cellicion's pieces are among the finest hand crafted Native American Zuni Inlay work in the Southwest. Each featured piece in this set is adorned with genuine Sleeping Beauty Turquoise, black jet, mother of pearl, Mediterranean coral, gold lip and shell abalone. The abalone is a tell tale sign that this piece is truly collectible. It is extremely rare to find abalone complementing Native American jewelry and was often used by the traditional Zuni silversmiths.

This Zuni Squash Blossom Necklace set features ten squash blossoms measuring 1 3/4" by 1 1/4" and are strung together with 8mm seam beads. The featured naja measures 4" by 2 1/2" and centers the masterpiece perfectly. This Zuni Rainbow Man Kachina Necklace measures 30" from end to end and uses a traditional hook and eye closer.

The Zuni cuff bracelet is perfectly matched with the necklace set and features the Rainbow Man Kachina surrounded by hand cut mosaics on a three wire cuff. This Zuni inlaid bracelet measures 2" tall and 2 5/8" wide. It will fit a size 5 1/2" to 7" wrist.

Not to be out done, this set also features a beautiful broach pendant, which is extremely rare, as part of a Native American Zuni Squash Blossom Set. Herbert and Esther created this extra addition which measures 1 1/2" by 1 1/4". Hallmarked and signed this broach pendant can be worn as a pendant or with the fastening pin attached.

A great addition to this Rainbow Man Kachina Squash Blossom are the Zuni Earrings which measure 1 1/2" by 1 1/4" and hang appropriately from 10mm seam beads adorned with a turquoise stone. These post earrings are the perfect addition to this Zuni Necklace Set

The final piece to this Rainbow Man Zuni Squash Blossom Set is a Zuni Ring. The Mosaic Inlay finish is adorned with all the trimmings and measures 1 1/2" by 1 1/4" and the ring will fit a size 9.

Rainbow Man Kachinas, a Zuni symbol, is the Kachina of harmony. This is a sign of the Great Mystery that gives humans the privilege of roaming this great planet. Herbert and Esther Cellion's master craftsmanship is extremely organized. Herbert used Turquoise, Black Jet, both white and Gold Lip, Mother of Pearl and Mediterranean Coral with was first purchased in 1974.

Separating turquoise into grades and qualities can be extremely confusing to the average person that does not understand how gemstones are treated and sold. From imitation to natural, turquoise gemstones come in all shapes, colors and sizes. Usually when shopping for turquoise jewelry a buyer can tell just by looking at the prices. Some companies may try and pass off natural for imitation; this is just bad business. Being one of the largest distributors of turquoise in Arizona, we at Alltribes Native American Art & Jewelry take great pride in our lapidary and silver smith artists. and with over 40 years of experience we never misrepresent turquoise as such. Originally when turquoise became popular in the world market, most turquoise jewelry was being built and mined in the American southwest. Now only about 20% of the turquoise you see in jewelry is coming from the American southwest. Mainly the Sleeping Beauty Mine and Kingman. Fortunately we have been collecting turquoise stones in all forms, for the past 40 years, and have some of the rarest natural turquoise found. Manufacturing here in our shop, we have the ultimate opportunity to retain some of the best silver smiths in the southwest. From the Earth, to the bearer of it, we take great pride in our craft and our integrity.

Here is a basic explanation broken down into five types of turquoise on the market

Natural Turquoise

Extremely hard that is essentially straight from the mine. It is suspected that only about 5% of turquoise available on the open market is natural turquoise.

Stabilized Turquoise

Soft turquoise that has been penetrated with a resin. It penetrates and absorbs into the gemstone, in turn; hardens the gemstone. Most natural turquoise will change color over the years depending on how it is stored or the oils of the person wearing it. Most stabilized turquoise will retain its color.

Treated Turquoise

Soft turquoise that is stabilized, except that the resin is also dyed. Colors in treated turquoise have may look artificial. But it is still will retain the sky blues and deep greens.

Reconstituted Turquoise

Essentially it is turquoise chalk that is a low grade and has been ground into powder, treated with epoxy resin, dyed, and compressed into block to be cut into shapes for jewelry making. Although it appears to be fake it is still turquoise, the difference being its pulverized and formed.

Imitation Turquoise

This is when a fake or real stone is created from chemicals or another gemstone is penetrated or died. Extremely inexpensive there is some dyed turquoise magnesite on the market that looks great.

Will Ferrell "The Office" Turquoise Watch	Bella Swan Bracelet	John Wayne Bracelet

Our Native American Artists and Silver smiths have hand crafted pieces of turquoise jewelry for several television shows, movies and Hollywood celebrities. They have chosen our turquoise watches, turquoise necklaces, turquoise belt buckles, turquoise concho belts, turquoise bracelets and several other turquoise masterpieces. Recently Alltribes has made pieces for celebrities in television shows such as The Office, CSI and American Idol. High fashion sterling silver turquoise jewelry has begun to make a serious climb back into mainstream fashion. Movie starts such as Cameron Diaz and Eva Mendez are just a few of Hollywood movie stars who can be seen various pieces of Native American turquoise jewelry. Shawn White the great snowboarder is also no stranger to turquoise jewelry. Step into the now and extraordinary; be inspired, turquoise jewelry IS NOW!

Old Pawn is a treasure in old Native American Jewelry and personal adornment from the Felsot private collection of bracelets, rings, and necklaces. This old pawn jewelry collection features some of the most noted Native American artists in the industry during it's peak years of the 1960's and 1970's. Contrary to different opinions, old pawn was not made only for pawn. Old pawn is not merely a turquoise piece that a Native American Indian needed for money. The Old Pawn surge was brought on by true romantic urge. The value and emotional attraction for old pawn Native American Jewelry is it has to be worn, used and appreciated by its owners and collectors. Mrs. Felsot was exactly that, a true collector that knew and appreciated collectible old pawn

Jewelry made by the Zuni Native American Indians covers a wide range of Southwestern styles and designs. However, while it varies greatly its basic inlaid styling makes it uniquely different than jewelry made in the other parts of the world. Although some countries have a lower labor standard than the United States which leads to attempts at copying popular Zuni jewelry, the reproduction of Zuni styles in those countries has never been successful on a large scale. Zuni Inlay jewelry such as the Old Pawn Jewelry Ring pictured by renowned silversmith Jake Livingston are one of a kind.