Description
Willie Yazzie, Sr. (Navajo), 1928-1999 Roadrunner and Cactus Overlay silver belt buckle 2 7/8" x 1 15/16" x 41.7 grams with no issues. Fits a 1.5" belt.
Navajo Overlay Artist Willie Yazzie
After the success of the overlay designs made at the Hopi Guild many other silversmiths and shops incorporated overlay in their designs (see Overlay is Not Always Hopi Made). Navajo trader Dean Kirk opened his own trading post at Manuelito, New Mexico (between Gallup and the Arizona border) by January 1941. The silver work made in Dean’s shop was typically Navajo tourist type designs and hallmarked UITA22 (under the auspices of the United Indian Traders Association) until about 1951. That’s when Kirk designed a series of overlay pins to be made by Navajo smiths in his employ incorporating Hohokam and Mimbres designs. These designs proved to be very popular, as a 1958 newspaper advertisement for Enchanted Mesa in Albuquerque promoted “Dean Kirk’s Navajo Overlay Silver”. The overlay pieces made at Kirk’s shop were rarely hallmarked.
However, one of the Navajo silversmiths who worked for Dean Kirk was Willie Yazzie, he made his own hallmark and used it on pieces he made in Kirk’s shop.
Much of the following information was relayed to Alan Ferg (archivist and archaeologist at Arizona State Museum) by William P. (Willie) Yazzie, Jr, in February 2018. Ferg’s investigation of an overlay belt buckle in his possession, lacking a hallmark, has led to previously unrecorded information about Willie Yazzie, as well as the identification of an additional hallmark used by the artist.
According to Social Security records, Willie A. Yazzie was born at Chinle, Arizona in 1928. His son says he learned silverwork at Dean Kirk’s trading post in Manuelito in the early 1950s, and created his touchmark (or hallmark) no later than 1960, and after that time his pieces made at Dean Kirk’s would have included his gourd dipper hallmark. His designs often incorporated animal figures such as roadrunners or Navajo designs including Yeis and Father Sky. He never added “tamp work,” or a textured pattern to the background designs.
In 1960 Ansel Hall, concessionaire at Mesa Verde National Park, was looking for a silversmith to demonstrate at the park during the summers months, Dean Kirk recommended Willie Yazzie and he was hired by Hall. Willie worked at Mesa Verde in the summers from 1960 to 1983, except for 1965 when he was sick. Yazzie created a special hallmark to denote pieces he made at Mesa Verde. The mark depicts Square Tower House, a ruin within the park, and was included with his gourd dipper mark during the summers of 1960-1964 and 1966-1983.
Willie A. Yazzie died in 1999, but his family, including his widow, daughter and Willie Jr continue the tradition of Willie’s overlay work. Willie Jr said that his sister has most of their father’s tools and stamps, and that she still uses the gourd dipper mark. Willie uses mostly his initials as his hallmark, but doesn’t do much silverwork anymore, he is retired from the National Park Service where he was a ranger at Canyon de Chelly. Willie, who lives in Chinle, said his sons do a little silversmithing, but that they are busy and don’t have much time for it.
