Antique Fred Harvey Era Navajo Style Sterling Silver & Green Turquoise Thunderbird Bracelet CUFF-Very Old order -Great Piece

Vintage Old Pawn Navajo Style Fred Harvey Era Silver Turquoise Thunderbird Symbol Cuff Bracelet. Bracelet displays Navajo symbols including Thunderbird and highlights oval gorgeous, forest green turquoise cabochon. Bracelet order measures 5/8 inches wide. It has a wearable circumference of 6 1/2 (inside measurement of 5 1/2 inches plus a gap of 1 inch). In nice vintage condition (see pics). Great gift or addition to any jewelry collection. -weighs 21 grams- Very unique piece.

Fred Harvey era jewelry, one is generally speaking about this genre of lightweight and mass-produced jewelry that was made for sale to the Anglo tourist along the Santa Fe railroad lines, in hotels and retail shops run primarily by the Fred Harvey Company. The name, Fred Harvey, is a quite famous one in Southwestern history.

Indian-made jewelry was one of the more popular commodities that the Anglo tourist purchased and brought back home, as it was a wearable token of their travels and of their experiences in the Southwest. However, as traders quickly realized, the Anglo taste in jewelry differed greatly from that of the Native Americans, such as the Navajo Indians. Whereas the Navajo would appreciate heavier, "bulkier" pieces (for example, thicker, larger Sterling Silver bracelets, rings, and necklaces with large turquoise stone settings), the Anglo tourist (and Anglo women in particular) would prefer lightweight examples with smaller elements of ornamentation and stones.

Once Indian jewelers and traders realized the Anglo preference, they began catering to the Anglo tourist's tastes by producing a full line of lightweight jewelry, much of it mass-produced with the help of specialized machinery and commercial sheet silver. In addition to the consideration of weight, various design elements or symbols were decided upon as standard designs that would decorate most products - the Thunderbird, the arrows (crossed arrows or single arrows), the four-directions symbol, lightning zigzags, arrowheads, etc. It was perceived that these were the symbols that most tourists had in mind as belonging to the Indian realm, and consequently, many Indian jewelers would keep to the use of these symbols instead of adding their own personal touch or incorporating other aesthetics.

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