History of Indian Jewelry

 The Indian Jewelry (Native American Jewelry), which has been wisdom and knowledge from ancient times, is around the worldIt attracts many people. Here, I wrote about the beginning of Indian Jewelry and the reasons for popularization. If you are interested in Indian Jewelry, please take a look.

The beginning of Indian Jewelry

 The history of Indian jewelry dates back to at least 10,000 BC. The first indigenous residents who lived in the United States created decorations using materials such as shells, stone, bones, feathers, and branch angles. The oldest Indian Jewelry is earrings about 12,000 years ago, with four bones decorated (Alaska).

 8,000 years ago, indigenous people in the southwest of the United States formed beads with colorful stones and shells with drills to create pendants.
 
 Beads made of bones, branch angles, and shells 7,000 years ago from the cave in Alabama, the beads made of shells 6,000 years ago from Nebata, the copper jewelry 3000 years ago. Beads made of stones 1500 years ago from the lake were discovered in Luiziana.
 Over the years, the technology will gradually become more advanced, and materials such as animal teeth, nails, turquoise, copper, silver, and pearls will be used.

 Indian jewelry, which became a tool to convey tradition, seems to have used it to express classes and individuality.
 Native American wealth was livestock, jewelry, fur, and did not have the concept of money as it is now. Also, wealth must be carried.
 And it played an important role in the tribal trade. For this way, for Native AmericanJewelry was a decoration and economical value.

Technology advancement

 Europeans who landed on the North American continent in the 1500s were introduced to beads and began to incorporate them into designs. Beads were connected using dietary fiber and animal tendon.

 In the 1600s, the southwestern United States began with Spain's invasion and control. Then, in that disaster, metal tools are given and used.

 In the 1850s, the Navaho tribe ATSIDI SANI (Itsidi Sani, which means old Smith) learned silver techniques from Mexicans and first adopted silver into jewelry design.

 In 1864, the U.S. government ruled the land where the Navajo tribe resident, and the Navajo tribe was forced to migrate (long walk) and was confined by the US government for four years. It is said that the accommodation has begun to create jewelry by spreading the knowledge of silver work to friends. Even after being released by the US government in 1868, we will increase silver work as an increase in contact with whites and Mexicans in the western part.

 The Zuni tribe, who praised the Navajo tribe's silver engineering technology, gains the technology to exchange for livestock. By 1890, the Zuni tribe inherited the technology to the Hopi tribe. In this way, the technology was transmitted between tribes and was adopted by various tribes.

 The early silver work was a simple design that melted hardened, tableware and ingots from European American merchants, engraved on a plain silver, and had a design, but later used by Mexico leather craftsmen. We have adopted punches and stamps, and enhanced the design using railway spur and iron scraps.

 It is said that the jewelry with turquoise has been used since around 1880, and Coral has been commonly used since around 1900.

 Since the 1870s, Native Americans have brought jewelry, wool products, livestock, etc. to the trading post (a place where people trade goods), and have been living with food and daily necessities. Ta. Again, from interacting with other races, I started to create a mold and create tools for decorating, and the basics of modern Indian jewelry have been completed.

 In addition, there are not many jobs in the residential ward of Native American, and if cash income is needed, there are many native Americans who put their jewelry and craft to pawns (PAWN). At that time, Indian Jewelry was not industrial, so it was created for jewelry created for the owner and his family, and for trade between friends and tribes.
 
 The trading was that the owner could collect the item with the amount of money purchased + 10 %. If the owner did not collect at least six months, the trader could sell the product. It seems that the 70-85 % jewelry could be collected by the owner, but for some reason, 15-30 % were not recovered, and they were called the old pawn jewelry and were distributed from the traders' hands. It was one of the reasons for the popularization。

 The biggest reason for the popularization was that the gold rush of the 1900s revitalized the transportation network by train, which caused many white people to use trains, and the Southwestern United States has grown rapidly. It depends.
 
 Native Americans have begun to sell jewelry made of silver and turquoise for tourists. Originally, the Indian Jewelry, which has a lot of heavy things, has become lighter and approaches what tourists prefer, which gained popularity and became popular with tourists. It is the birth of a tourist jewelry. The typical ones are called Fred Harvi Jewelry and Fred Harvey Style Jewelry.

World Heritage Taos Pueblo visited on the road of the trip. Adobe architecture buildings made of sun -dried bricks with 1000 years of history are still used as housing.

What is Fred Harvey Style?

 Fred Harvey (1835-1901) is an American businessman and founder of Fred Harvy Company. Born in London, England, he moved to New York, USA at the age of 15, and became a US citizen a few years later.
 In New York, I worked at a restaurant where I gained various experiences there. After that, I moved around and worked for jewelry stores and railway companies.
 After that, he started his business, and runs a restaurant along the cafe and railway, but has been out of business due to the Civil War and the broken business partner.

 After many twists and turns, I met the president of the Santa Fe Railway.In 1878, Harvey signed a small restaurant along the Santa Fe Railway and the railway route, and in a few years, the Santa Fe Railway started operating a cafeteria.
 At that time, the cafeteria was poor in meals and services. As a result, the style of providing high -quality services in Harvy's uniforms has quickly become popular.
 The women who provided thoroughly trained and high -quality services, Harvy Girls, are also movies, indicating their popularity at the time. Harvey had 84 restaurants at the peak, but died in 1901. Fred Harvy Company was left to the sons.

 In the 1900s, his facilities became a market that sells Indian Jewelry and Native American crafts to revitalize the tourism.
 Fred Harvy Company requested Silver Scrap to focus on the weight and design of jewelry to grasp the hearts of tourists. Thus they became popular and many tourists bought them. In addition, it seems that motifs such as Thunderbirds and arrows have been frequently used as you can see at a glance with Indian Jewelry.
 Thus, Fred Harvy Company has become the leader who has spread the Indian Jewelry, which had been decorated in the tribe.

Santa Fe visited on the way on a trip. A conductor -only vehicle connected to the end [CABOOSE].

What is a belt -trading post?

 In 1932, Jack Michelson and his wife established a beltrading post. He was named [Bell] from his wife, Jack Middleton's maiden name. Jack produced Indian Jewelry (Tourist Jewelry) for travelers passing Alba Khaki, New Mexico, and sold it at various tourist trades, including Fred Harvey shops. Navaho jewelry is the majority, but it seems that other native Americans such as the Zuni tribe were also enrolled and produced.

 It was all handmade and produced a lot of items, but it seems that there were times when the machine was also added on the way.

 Unfortunately, it has been acquired in 1972 and has not survived, but it is still well -known, has many beltrading jewelry collectors, and is very popular in the United States.

The Kimosa Theater was built in 1927 in Alba Khaki, who visited on the road. The design that combines Art Deco and Pueblo style is characteristic.
 

The charm of Old Indian Jewelry

 In this way, Native Americans have learned a variety of foreign cultures from history and disaster, and have been working together with their own views and thoughts, and continues to create unique Indian Jewelry for a long time to the present.

 This time, I bought dozens of points in the United States and bought it to Japan carefully. An Indian Jewelry, which is like an amulet and is a tool that inspires himself. Please take a look.

Click here for the list of products of Vintage Indian Jewelry.