Description
1950's Frank Patania Sr(1899-1964) Modernist southwestern Sterling RC Bolo tie.<br>2" wide bolo slide 37.7 grams with no issues. Rare possibly one of a kind, Frank<br>Patania and his studio did a lot of custom pieces. This is obviously the RC Cola<br>logo but at this point I have no way of knowing if it were made for say a<br>company exec or someone with the initials RC. Shouldn't really matter, it's very<br>cool.<br><br>All precious metals are tested and guaranteed, any Native American jewelry<br>referred to as Silver or Sterling is guaranteed to be a minimum of 90% (coin)<br>silver and possibly higher content. Anything marked is guaranteed to be what<br>it's marked, most bracelets are photographed on a 6" wrist (non hairy), rings<br>photographed on the appropriate sized finger when possible. With bracelets if<br>the measurement is not given in the description then inside circumference is<br>shown where the metal meets the number on the the cloth tape measure.<br><br>Frank Patania Sr. immigrated to New York City in 1908. Child labor laws kept the<br>young man from working as a craftsman, but after World War I he was old enough<br>to be hired as a designer for an important jewelry firm. In 1924 he contracted<br>tuberculosis, and the firm sent him to a sanatorium in Santa Fe, New Mexico.<br>Patania was seduced by the active art colony and healthy climate, and chose to<br>remain in the Southwest even after his health improved. His work reflects both<br>his European training and his exposure to Pueblo and Navajo jewelry.<br><br>The legacy left by Frank Patania, Sr. came from the integration of two<br>distinctly different traditions-one European, and the other Native American. On<br>the one hand, Frank Sr. drew from a long history of Italian creative spirit,<br>combining technical expertise and artistic imagination. He instilled in his<br>family the Italian commitment to fine craftsmanship, as well as the Italian<br>custom of family corporate bonding.<br><br>This uniquely Italian tradition can be traced back as far as the Renaissance,<br>and provides a structure in which each member of an artisan family has a job to<br>perform that contributes to the family enterprise. This familial check and<br>balance system has been a powerful asset to the Patania family's continued<br>standard of excellence through the years. But Frank Sr.'s style was drastically<br>transformed when he was introduced to the work of southwest Native American<br>jewelers in the 1920s.<br><br>His inspiration was multi-faceted; he began to work in a new medium-silver and<br>turquoise-as well as in increased scale, and using new techniques. The<br>successful marriage of these two disparate traditions has become the foundation<br>upon which each generation has maintained the tradition of excellence in<br>craftsmanship and design that has come to be known as the "Patania Thunderbird"<br>style.
