Description
6.25" UITA6 1930's Navajo ingot silver and turquoise cuff bracelet. Weight and measurements in pics.
Beginning in 1931, The United Indian Trader’s Association (UITA), a volunteer organization of leading Southwestern Indian traders, created and enforced a strict set of quality standards for the making and selling of Navajo and Pueblo jewelry in the trading posts of its various members. UITA’s distinctive hallmark of its initials UITA with an arrowhead in the middle followed by the numeric designation of the particular trading company it was made at or for was a guarantee of the highest quality Native jewelry; completely handmade using solely traditional methods of craftsmanship and use of only the finest, traditional materials. Since the UITA traders were the most important “Who’s-who” of their day they were well-equipped to set and enforce such high standards and as a result, the finest jewelry pieces made under UITA’s auspices are some of the very finest Navajo and Pueblo pieces of the 20th Century.
"The United Indian Traders Association (UITA) was established on September 13, 1931 for the expressed purpose of authentication of Indian crafts. At the time, the UITA was an important player both in Indian cultural life and in advocating for the sale of authentic Indian arts and crafts."
Not only is this bracelet a classic, but the trading post it was made for and sold at is a classic too: “UITA 6” was the numeric designation assigned to the historic and extremely remote Borrego Pass Trading Post, set in the high pinon-juniper studded hills about 50 miles south of Chaco Canyon in Northwestern New Mexico. The post first opened in 1927 and was named after the nearby Borrego Pass, an ancient water gap across the Continental Divide where Navajos used to drive their sheep. Borrego Pass Trading Post was operated by several highly influential prominent Indian traders over the next fifty-plus years, including Ben and Anna Harvey, Bill and Jean Cousins and Don and Fern Smouse. The Navajo know Borrego Pass in the Navajo language as “Tiish Bito” (Snake Spring) or “Dibe Yazhi Habitiin” meaning "Upward Path of the Lamb."
It’s hard to believe that such an elegant, refined and sophisticated looking piece was made essentially in the middle of nowhere in such an isolated and desolate region. Borrego Pass is tough to get to and when you get there, there is really no there there, just the run down old shell of what was once an important regional trading post. Our last trip out there was in 1996 or 1997 and the old post was barely hanging on, open just a few hours a day. It closed a year or two later, the end of an era.
This bracelet is a completely classic and historic piece of traditional, Navajo silversmithing made in a classic and historic way in a classic and historic place; a unique combination that’s pretty hard to beat. As we said a moment ago, it’s quite remarkable that such a classic-looking International quality precious artwork could have been made in such a remote and isolated place under such primitive conditions but the Navajo are historically noamdic people who relish their splendid isolation, rugged lifestyle and magnificent wide open spaces. The proof of this bracelet's beauty is in the pudding and this particular pudding is a most delicious dish indeed.
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) silver and possibly higher content. Anything marked is guaranteed to be what<br>i.t'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 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.
