Benny Armijo (1937-2022). Benny was a renowned master Navajo silversmith who specialized in this complex inlay and "corn row" type cobblestone inlay using high quality stones. His jewelry was featured on the Oprah Winfrey show and was collected by many high-profile artists from James Taylor, Charlie Daniels, to Hank Williams Jr. His pieces can be seen on many album covers of top music groups and are highly collectable today. His incredible sense of humor was as well-known as his jewelry. He was simply the most generous man that one could ever imagine, always helping complete strangers he encountered along the way. He was active from the early 70's until the late 20th century.. His older mark from the 1970's looks like a tadpole and has been misattributed to "Edward Zuni", but I'm 100% sure this is Benny Armijo's work and hallmark, it's been confirmed by his living relatives. Benny was born in Santa Fe, New Mexico Benito M Armijo Jr The older stamp he first used was to represent the letter C and letter M which stood for Chief Marcos. Many years later maybe around 1989 he stamped his jewelry with Benny Armijo. He lived in California for many years and returned to New Mexico and passed away January 2022. He was known for his stone inlay on what he called a Hopi wedding band in which all the stones were inlaid inside the ring or bracelet. Giving the thought that the beauty between the couple is in the eye of the beholder and the couple would choose the different color of stones and their meanings to be inlaid on their wedding bands.
