Native American Turquoise Sterling Silver Jewelry Hallmarks

Native American jewelry is a highly sought out and collectible item.  We run across a lot of this type of jewelry in our online thrift store and thrift store.  Everyone is always asking me how to find information on hallmarks for the Native American pieces.

First of all...What is a Hallmark?

A hallmark or Maker's Mark is a stamped or carved marking on the inside or back of jewelry or other handcrafted items that identifies it's maker or also silver or gold content.  Hallmarks are a way of identifying the maker, time period pieces were made in, metal content and other related information.  Hallmarks alone do not provide positive proof that you have a highly sought after designer's work represented by the hallmark it bears.  These marks are easily copied and duplicated and can represent multiple people when just initials are used. 

                                                            

                                                Visit our online thrift store to see this item!

 Many of these works of art are also hallmarked with type of material (silver, gold, Turquoise, etc.) that the work of art was made with. When it comes to jewelry specifically, it is required by law that the silversmith or goldsmith stamp the piece with the percentage of metal in the piece. In Native American jewelry it is common to see .925 or Sterling meaning that the piece contains sterling silver which is 92.5% silver and 7.5% copper. In anglo jewelry and some Native American jewelry the artists may work with different kinds of gold such as 10k, 12k, 14k, 18k or 22k. This is the amount of gold that is in the metal.

                                                      

                                              Available now at our online thrift store!

Many Native American's adopted this system in the mid 1950s when this type of jewelry became more popular. In the beginning Native American jewelry hallmarks were just the initials of the artist or a symbol they loved such as an arrow or buffalo or the like. Today many artist use their full name, there initials with a symbol, or more detailed stamps or hallmarks. 

Here is a website that I reference to when researching hallmarks.  A to Z hallmarks on silver to identify Indian Native American Jewelry for Hopi, Navajo and Zuni jewelry.

Familiarize yourself with the jewelry that you are thinking about purchasing. Are you curious about Navajo jewelry, which has a strong emphasis in stamping metal, very detailed silver metal work or are you more interested in Zuni jewelry? The more you know about the jewelry that you are purchasing, the less likely it is that you can be fooled.

Here are some more pieces that are available through our store Hers & His Thrift Store.  Please feel free to email us at hersandhisthrift@yahoo.com for more information or pictures on what we currently have available.  You can also "LIKE" us on Facebook for great deals, giveaways, and more!!

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