Dig It - 10/13/22
We meet once again Fellow Seekers, this time to examine an Early Navajo Silver Headstall. I really love these things; at one time I think I had eight great examples. This piece was collected by Clay Lockett, perhaps the premier dealer in Southwestern Native American Arts and Crafts, old and new during the 1940s to the 1960s. Clay was an Archaeologist with a degree from University of Arizona. He led the famous Rainbow Bridge and the Monuments Valley Archaeological Expeditions in the 1930s. In the 1940s he left Archaeology to start selling Native American Art and owned several shops as well as running the Museum of Northern Arizona’s gift shop. Any artifact connected with his name is of the highest quality.
This silver headstall dates to the very earliest period of Navajo silversmithing, 1870s to the early 1880s. The frontlet or central brow piece is a tri-lobed shaped taken from Southern Plains German silver headstalls. It is decorated with a rose compass like design made with a cold chisel, and rocker engraving is used to outline the shape of the border. Soldered to the central frontlet is a U-shaped element, which may have been made to hold a Naja though there is no sign of wear from it ever having a Naja. I wonder if it might have been for a yarn decoration. The side or cheek plates are rocker engraved and are much wider than later plates. The Conchos are 4” in diameter, much larger than later headstalls. Because this headstall is so early it predates the use of stamps.
It is amazing to me that Navajos less than a generation after Bosque Redondo had the income to afford this heavy silver headstall to decorate their horses. It is a testament to Navajo resiliency. It is also amazing to me that with just a handful of tools and under primitive conditions that a Navajo silversmith could produce such an object of beauty. This silver headstall also speaks to the high esteem in which the Navajo held their horses. Both the horse and the headstall were objects of high status. That wraps it up for me, Seekers, Keep Your Eyes on the Horizon and Your Powder Dry.