Description
6.25" Mark Chee (1914-1981) Navajo silver cuff bracelet with turquoise. Unmarked, attributed.. I am extremely confident that this is Mark Chee's work, it is obviously an old bracelet, circa mid 20th century. The stampings, the clean bezels around the abstract natural stones, the back, overall design, everything about it is indicative of Mark Chee's work.<br><br>Mark Chee (1914-1981) Biography<br>Navajo artist, Mark Chee is among the earliest southwest silversmiths. Mark Chee is known for traditional stamp work and high quality stone settings in unusually heavy silver. He was born in Lukachukai, Arizona around 1900 and was sent to government school at Fort Defiance (a United States government practice during that time) from the age of 10 to the 11thgrade. He is the elder brother of Joe Chee. <br><br>He was active during the 1930s through ‘60s. He specialized in heavy silver in old style designs. He began polishing silver in Julius Gans’ Southwest Art and Crafts shop in Santa Fe for $5.00 a week. He then bought a few tools and used them all his life. He quickly became an accomplished silversmith and was hired as a bench smith at Frank Patania’s Thunderbird Shop and later at Al Packard’s shop on the Santa Fe Plaza. He was also a bench-smith for the Wooden Indian at Embudo, New Mexico. <br><br><br>Marked or unmarked as shown in pics, weight and other measurements in pics. Sorry but my jewelry is stored in a secure location and cannot be accessed for more pictures,<br>videos, or measurements until sold. If you look at pictures/description your<br>question should be answered. Thank you so much for your time and consideration! If you would like to chat, that would be great, but lets chat about something that isn't answered in this listing that we put so much effort into already :)<br><br>All precious metals are tested and guaranteed. A Native American jewelry piece referred to as "silver" or "ingot" is guaranteed to be at least 90% silver. I rarely use the word "sterling" when referring to older Native American silver or really any older silver jewelry as silver contents vary and "sterling" is 92.5% silver. No older jewelry is going to be exactly 92.5% silver, some a little over, some a little under. It wasn't an exact thing with handmade jewelry. I've seen thousands of pieces xrf'd to prove this. Bracelets are photographed on a 6" women's wrist.
