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A matched set of extraordinary Modernist-style Sterling silver and blue art glass earrings and ring by H. Fred Skaggs, Scottsdale, AZ, c.1950’s-60’s

It is a stark truism that the art world is inherently unfair and that exceptional talent and ability is not always exceptionally noticed or rewarded. One of the most notable examples we know of this is the case of H. Fred Skaggs (d.1982), an unsung hero of the jewelry world. Unlike his now world-famous jewelry student, Charles Loloma (1921-1991), Skaggs is not a household name today, but he was a fantastic, far ahead-of-his-time jeweler with great artistic vision and truly exceptional technical virtuosity. In the late 1950’s, there was a potent artistic witches brew of sorts occurring at The Kiva Craft Center on downtown Scottsdale Arizona’s 5th Avenue. Conceived of and facilitated by the talented Native American fashion impresario and educator, Lloyd Kiva New (1916-2002), the idea was to provide live and work space for various artists to make and sell their creations within a defined artistic community and in the process to feed off each others proximity, creative energy and inspiration.

In addition to Kiva New himself, some of the most prominent artists in residence at Kiva Craft were Modernist jeweler, H. Fred Skaggs and Hopi Indian painters and ceramic artists Charles Loloma and his wife Otellie. This idea

of one artist inspiring another worked perfectly with Skaggs and Loloma. Skaggs admired Loloma’s pottery pieces

and he offered to trade him jewelry-making lessons for them. Loloma, who found Skagg’s jewelry fascinating, readily agreed to the arrangement and history was thus made.

For almost the entirety of his career, Skaggs worked quietly and modestly in his small Scottsdale shops where

he made and sold his daring Modernist silver and gold jewelry for decades from 1956 until his death in 1982.

Skaggs shunned the limelight, but he influenced generations of jewelers to come with his innovative shapes, technical mastery and creative uses of metals and stones. For the rest of his storied jewelry career, Loloma always credited Skaggs with being his biggest influence and indeed you can see the genesis of many of Loloma’s “signature” ideas in earlier work done by Skaggs; the triangular “Shield” style earrings such as the ones you see here, the daringly shaped bracelets and rings and the use of multi-colored often unusual stone settings and the dramatic manipulation of brightly polished and unpolished or textured metal surfaces in the same piece.

These exceptional earrings and ring are a perfect example of Skagg’s using his imaginative aesthetic and exceptional craftsmanship to create a beautiful and unique artistic Modernist Southwestern statement. The earring’s large triangular undulating folded silver bodies themselves are an extraordinary and daring conception with their mixture of highly-polished bright silver areas and darker textured raised silver beaded areas which subtly echo the folds, contours, rock formations and light and dark shadows of the Southwest desert. This contrast between the bright polished surfaces and the darker inner recessed surfaces sets up a marvelous contrast and visual tension which serves to perfectly frame and highlight the beautiful deep blue handcut art glass stones which are very nicely set

in plain silver bezels surrounded by an encircling border of darker textured applied silver beads. The stones are slightly and subtly shaped individually one slightly different in contour than the other. All in all, this is an exceptionally attractive and precious visual presentation. Simply put, these earrings are a knockout.

The earrings are mounted on their original clip closures which could easily be converted to posts by a qualified professional jeweler, if ever desired. The earrings measure 1 1/4” in height and 1 1/4” in width. Despite their impressive size, they weigh a very comfortable and easy-to-wear 9 grams or 3/8 ounce each. They are

in completely excellent original condition with a tiny amount of age-appropriate wear and they are properly signed “H. Fred Skaggs” and are also marked “Handmade” and “Sterling” on the backs. These earrings are precious, beautifully-fashioned pieces by someone who was one of America’s most imaginative and accomplished jewelry artists himself and who was the formative teacher of and inspiration to the most significant and renowned Native American jewelry artist of all time.

The ring is beautifully constructed with an interesting, daring silver wire design which skillfully combines the ring's shank and bezel into one unit and suspends the central blue glass stone perfectly, framing and accentuating it in a wonderful and airy presentation. The ring measures a size 8 on a professional graduated ring sizer. The face of the ring measures 3/4” in height and 7/8” in width and it weighs a very comfortable 5 grams or 1/4 ounce. The ring is properly signed “H. Fred Skaggs” and is also marked “Sterling” and “handmade” on the interior. Both ring and earrings are in excellent original condition.

These startlingly, swoopy, almost wildly modern earrings and ring were created in modest and humble circumstances by a unique and self-effacing individual who spoke loudest and most eloquently through his art. They were created

at a great distance and under conditions vastly different from those in the fancy high fashion jewelry houses in the major jewelry capitals of the world, but we are certain that the great artisans at Tiffany, Cartier, Van Cleef and Arpels, Bulgari and Harry Winston would all have been very proud to say they had conceived of and created them.

SOLD