Product Description

Navajo and Pueblo Earrings is the first book to explain and illustrate the different types of Native American earrings and the types of materials used. The accumulation of this collection allowed the author to gather new information made possible by having a variety of examples to study. During the 1960s and 1970s, the market for old earrings was meager and they had little or no pawn value. As a result, many examples remained in the Pueblos, on the Navajo reservation, in the back rooms of trading posts and curio stores and in old collections. The history of the Native earring in the Southwest and how they were used is shown with documentation through the last two hundred years. Archival photos and new photos of the historic Native earrings give the reader examples of the over 300 pairs of earrings that originally made up this collection.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1365991 in Books
• Published on: 2006-08-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 113 pages

Review
2006 Book of the Year Award, Finalist --ForeWord Magazine

2007 New Mexico Book Award Winner, Native American Subject Books This book was received the Turquoise Award for Native American Subject Books. --New Mexico Book Awards, nmbookaward.com

A must for collectors... beautifully illustrated... most complete collection in existence. Kudos to publisher for overall quality of the book. -- abqArts, August 1, 2006

A photographic and descriptive showcase ... allows reader to experience masterwork and subtlety as surely as if seeing them in person. -- MidWest Book Reviews, August 2006

Navajo And Pueblo Earrings 1850-1945: Collected By Robert V. Gallegos by Robert Bauver (a dedicated collector, expert and scholar of Southwestern jewelry for more than thirty years) is a photographic and descriptive showcase presented especially for collectors and aficionados of Navajo and Pueblo jewelry. Full-color photographs and extensive text entries for over 300 pairs of earrings allow the reader to experience the masterwork and subtlety in Navajo and Pueblo creations as surely as if seeing them in person. A brief introduction and history of Navajo and Pueblo earrings rounds out this respectful collection --Midwest Book Review, August 2006

The most complete collection of Native American earrings ever assembled! -- Martha Struever, Indian Art Dealer

About the Author
Robert Bauver has been a collector and scholar of Southwestern jewelry for over thirty years. While continuing his studies in native arts and culture at the University of New Mexico he had the opportunity to spend time on the Navajo reservation working with a family of silver smiths gaining an appreciation for the Navajo straightforward approach to jewelry making. He has brought together all the existing information on this subject and adds his own first-hand knowledge to help rediscover the earrings of the Navajo and the Pueblo artisans.

Customer Reviews

illustrated informative history of Southwest Native American earrings
Both a historic overview of the Southwestern Native American earrings and descriptions of many individual pieces are done by an authority in the field. In the historical section, Bauver relates characteristics of different periods over the century covered, methods of production, and occasionally certain influential individuals. By the late 1870s, a change from the "annular [ring-shaped] concept of earrings" to the now widely-familiar "pyro-form-shaped drops of silver" had begun. With each of the nearly 50 sets of earrings or single ones pictured in color Bauver writes short essays usually of a couple of hundred words--more than annotations or captions--which are informative to points such as materials and craftsmanship; e. g., "Close examination of the three remaining hoops reveals that they are of native worked copper; each hoop clearly shows evidence of the repeated hammer blows that shaped the metal into a thin, elongated rod that was subsequently formed into a hoop." The 1945 date for the end of the period is somewhat arbitrary, except for marking the end of the Second World War when the Southwest became a popular tourist and retirement area, and commercialization set into the making of the attractive earrings in a significantly larger scale than it had in the preceding decades.

Full-color photographs and extensive text entries for over 300 pairs of earrings
Also available in a hard cover edition (1890689490, $39.95), Navajo And Pueblo Earrings 1850-1945: Collected By Robert V. Gallegos by Robert Bauver (a dedicated collector, expert and scholar of Southwestern jewelry for more than thirty years) is a photographic and descriptive showcase presented especially for collectors and aficionados of Navajo and Pueblo jewelry. Full-color photographs and extensive text entries for over 300 pairs of earrings allow the reader to experience the masterwork and subtlety in Navajo and Pueblo creations as surely as if seeing them in person. A brief introduction and history of Navajo and Pueblo earrings rounds out this respectful collection.

A Book of Special Interest to Collectors, Artists or Antiquarians
NAVAJO & PUEBLO EARRINGS: 1850-1945 will be of special interest to collectors and admirers of early American Indian silversmithing. The historical introduction is excellent and describes materials used at different times, decorative styles and their genesis. The book would be most useful to those wishing to understand manufacturing processes e.g. how one detects a bead drilled with a pump drill versus later power tool drilled beads; the historical dates of turquoise, the progression of styles of earrings and changes in style as a result of commerical pressure. The book is well designed and photographs give an excellent close-up view of earrings. This book appears to have been an award finalist of USABookNews.com