Help Identifying Mexican or Native American Silver Mark

Navajo, Zuni & Hopi
PHOTOS REQUIRED - marks + item
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spudman
Posts: 15
Joined: Fri Feb 22, 2013 12:48 pm

Help Identifying Mexican or Native American Silver Mark

Post by spudman »

Please help ID this mark on a child's fork and spoon set. It appears to be craftsman period but I don't know if it's Mexican or American. Thanks in advance. No other marks.

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WarrenKundis
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Joined: Fri Jul 15, 2011 3:20 pm

Re: Help Identifying Mexican or Native American Silver Mark

Post by WarrenKundis »

Good Morning,

Hopi artist Jesse Josytewa was the closest match I came up with. Let us know how that works out for you.

Warren
dragonflywink
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Re: Help Identifying Mexican or Native American Silver Mark

Post by dragonflywink »

They're Navajo, not Hopi, and much earlier than anything that would have been produced by Jesse Josytewa. They're not marked, that rayed design is just a decorative motif, very typical to be unmarked (the fineness may be only .900 rather than .925), but if marked, would have been done on the back rather than the front. Use of turquoise on Navajo spoons was uncommon until around the '20s, but the relative simplicity of the stamp-work would probably date it later, would guess more likely dates right around the 1940s (give or take a few years either way). There is a set of iced tea spoons with somewhat similar stamp-work and square stones shown on page 100 in Kline's 'Navajo Spoons' (2001), dated as post WWII.

~Cheryl
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