Old and New: Silver and Turquoise Quiz

Answer: it was soft and plentiful

Silver is a soft metal and was easily found millenniums ago. Silverwork dating from 3100 - 2900 BC is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, and traces of silver-use in prehistoric times have been found in Asia Minor and elsewhere. The Latin name "argentum" means "shining" or "white" but if you've worked with good silver you know its added worth as decoration, whether making soldered shapes, wire-wraps, a surface for stamping, a lost-wax method or your own particular craft.

Answer: Tutankhamun

The Egyptian King Tutankhamun (called "King Tut" by Martin) had a burial mask liberally covered with turquoise and other gemstones. The Egyptian Museum in Cairo has many artifacts that incorporate turquoise from the Valley of the Kings. The gems were often found in royal tombs c 3100 BC, though it was not mined in that area and most came from Sinai.

Other old civilizations also used turquoise, with Persians as one early example. Use of the gemstone in countries like Japan is less well-documented.

Answer: Anasazi / Aztecs

The unknown Anasazi, a vanished Pueblo people in the USA, left examples of turquoise pendants, beads, sculptures and mosaics, mostly in New Mexico's Chaco Canyon. The Aztecs, mainly in Central America, also used a lot of turquoise, which historians see as symbolic of fire, a god of fire. Today, we still see turquoise and silver jewelry made by the Navajo and other Southwestern US tribes. South American and Central American artisans still produce fine work as well, sometimes decorating saddles and bridles with silver and turquoise.

Answer: broad leaves and squash blossoms

Use of wide curving silver leaves that seem to hold a usually smooth turquoise stone or two, interspersed with silver drops and maybe some narrow twisted wire, identifies what many people call Navajo-style jewelry, familiar since the 19th century. A squash blossom necklace, also prevalent in Navajo work, is a bit small and rough if old, and a lot bigger and richer when more modern.

The necklaces incorporate round silver beads plus sheet-silver shaped like flowers on a squash plant, and a crescent pendant called the "Naja" said to be protection or sometimes representing "a womb/a child in the womb." Turquoise used here is often found in some Arizona mines, with a spiderweb of fine lines in the stones.

Answer: small careful trademark

Most people advise looking for a small trademark on the inside or back of the silver. It will be simple, a maker's symbol, sometimes with a T or other tiny identifier. There is often no year marked. Become familiar with trademarks and you might make one for your own work.

But if you really like a piece for sale and don't see a trademark, don't let that make up your mind. A little personal knowledge and taste goes a long way.

Answer: electronic abrasive grinder, kept damp

Turquoise can be made smooth with lapidary equipment, or it can be left close to the original contours of the gemstone. How the turquoise looks and feels in a design will vary. With Navajo-style work, the turquoise is often smooth but, except for many squash blossom necklaces, sometimes a good piece of turquoise is better left 'as is' rather than reduced too much.

A lapidary wheel is made of an abrasive surface rather like very heavy sandpaper, and it revolves or spins while also being kept damp to cool it.

When I used one I held a turquoise stone in my fingers against a wet upright grinder, because my fingers had learned to recognize the 'right' feel. Many people fasten a gemstone to a stick instead.

Answer: design cut out, filled with silver

The lost-wax method of silverwork is done by drawing a design for the silver only, then transferring it to a form that keeps the design correct while heated silver is put into it. The form is then removed when the silver is cool to a desired consistency.

The method can be a bit tricky, but results can be sturdier than soldering might be. The term "sand casting" is self-descriptive of a similar process. These are good methods for belt buckles, larger pendants, rings, some bracelets.

Answer: sized silver wires / sized flat sheets

The silver wires used by jewelry-smiths are found in a number of sizes, from rather thin to quite thick. The wires can be round or look nearly triangular. They're used in different ways to hold almost finished designs around a ring finger or arm, and also as added texture around the gemstone setting. Flat sheets of silver are also various thicknesses, though since these are cut for different shapes and purposes, tools and designs should be taken into account.

Answer: red coral / lapis lazuli

Red coral looks particularly great with sky-blue turquoise. I advise buying nice silverwork that includes coral, but it isn't available to work with any more because we need coral reefs much more than we need jewelry. Lapis lazuli is a deep, vibrant blue than also sits well with many kinds of turquoise.

Answer: any sizable Indigenous powwow

The best places to see and buy silver and turquoise jewelry are at the booths set up around the dance ground at many Indigenous powwows. They're a lot of fun, too. The second best place, once you know what to look for, is a pawn shop, possibly secondhand stores. Are you selling your own work? Make a lot of it first, then wear some, man or woman. You may get an offer.