Antique/Vtg Navajo Concho Belt. Silver/Turquoise. Buckle+6 Conchos, 7 butterflies
Neta and I collected Indian Jewelry since our honeymoon in 1963, and concho belts as soon as we could afford them. I've got to let go of them sometime. This one is quite old, judging from the style, the leather, the evidence of use, and the relatively few stamps. Another suggestion of age is that the bezels holding the turquoise are rather crudely cut, indicating a lack of more precision tools, My best guess would be late 40s. The turquoise is of excellent quality.
It has a high polish that only a hard stone will hold. Several of the stones show small pyrites.
That will generally mean they came from the Morenci or Kingman mines, particularly at that time. The buckle has the'four sacred mountains' of Navajoland, that some refer to as a'ketoh' style, but that is because many ketohs (Navajo bow guards) have the four sacred mountains. Several methods have been used over the years to make daily or long time wearing of concho belts more comfortable. Some have a leather patch the size of each concho attached to the back, through which the copper keeper protrudes. In this one, a wide continuous belt, as wide as the conchos, serves that function, with the keepers going through slits in the belt, and with a narrow belt going through the keepers.The disadvantage of this method is that the conchos are not adjustable. The advantage is the same - they do not get out of position. The conchos and the buckle are nicely domed, nicely stamped with few stamps, the subtle use of turquoise, making this a desirable belt for the collector and for those just looking for a good, authentic concho belt. The buckle is 3 5/8" x 2 5/8"; the oval conchos 3 x 2.25"; the butterflies 2.25 x 1.25" 48" long with holes at 41.5 and 42.5", 2.5 wide.
The day after I listed it, I realized that my silver-testing acid had gone bad, and since this is not marked, I could not confidently represent it as sterling, although I was pretty sure. I now have new test acid and it is very clearly sterling silver. One of the things that fascinates me about American Indian jewelry is that for the most part no two pieces are alike.
There are some who replicate the same piece over and over again, but most do not. A constant state of innovation.
It is unmarked and I realized when I was listing it that my testing acid was no good. This item is in the category "Collectibles\Cultures & Ethnicities\Native American: US\1935-Now\Jewelry". The seller is "pnpalmharbor" and is located in this country: US. This item can be shipped to United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Denmark, Romania, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Estonia, Australia, Greece, Portugal, Cyprus, Slovenia, Japan, China, Sweden, Korea, South, Indonesia, South Africa, Thailand, Belgium, France, Hong Kong, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria, Bahamas, Israel, Mexico, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland, Norway, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Croatia, Republic of, Malaysia, Chile, Colombia, Panama, Jamaica, Barbados, Bangladesh, Bermuda, Brunei Darussalam, Bolivia, Egypt, French Guiana, Guernsey, Gibraltar, Guadeloupe, Iceland, Jersey, Jordan, Cambodia, Cayman Islands, Liechtenstein, Sri Lanka, Luxembourg, Monaco, Macau, Martinique, Maldives, Nicaragua, Oman, Pakistan, Paraguay, Reunion, Uruguay.
- Origin: New Mexico or Arizona
- Provenance: Winders Collections
- Tribal Affiliation: Navajo
- Artisan: Unsigned antique
- Country/Region of Manufacture: United States
- Handmade: Yes
- Modified Item: No