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A beautiful vintage Navajo silver band
ring by Mark Chee, Santa Fe, c. 1950’s-60’s
A truly gorgeous piece by one of the all-time greatest superstars of Navajo silversmithing, Mark Chee (1904-1981). Born in the tiny, remote, one-horse hamlet of Lukachukai, Arizona out in the far reaches of the vast Navajo Reservation, Mark Chee came to Santa Fe as a young teenager to work as a jewelry apprentice polishing stones for $5.00 a week for Julius Gans Southwest Arts and Crafts. Due to his exceptional talent and instruction by some of the finest Navajo and Pueblo silversmiths of their day, people such as Ambrose Roanhorse, Sam Roanhorse and Joe Quintana, Chee rose rapidly through the Santa Fe ranks becoming an ace silversmith whose pieces were always in high demand.
At left, San Francisco Street in downtown Santa Fe, c. 1930's. The Southwest Arts and Crafts building sign can be seen at top center. At right, some of Southwest Arts and Crafts Native silversmiths in front of the store, 1935. Mark Chee is pictured at second from left.
Left photo source and © T. Harmon Parkhurst, The Santa Fe New Mexican, c. 1925-45. Right photo source and © Frashers Fotos.
Mark Chee at his bench, Santa Fe, c. 1940’s.
Photo © Frasher’s Foto Postcards, Pasadena, CA
Mark Chee always worked in a completely traditional manner using only a simple set of tools he mostly made himself. This superb ring is an excellent example of Chee’s exalted design and fine craftsmanship; the thick silver shank is expertly decorated all the way around with perfectly-applied, deep stamp work designs. The exceptionally fine all around detailing and the classic simplicity of the ring’s finished appearance belies the difficulty of its precise execution.
The great ones always make it look easy and effortless when it is really anything but!
The ring measures a size 9 1/2 to 9 3/4 on a professional graduated ring sizer. It is 1/2" in continuous width all the way around and it weighs a very comfortable 8 grams or 1/4 ounce. The ring is in extremely good original vintage condition with some nice age-appropriate wear and a fine soft glowing patina from age and use and it is properly and handsomely signed on the interior with Mark Chee’s customary last name “ChEE” inside a bird’s head hallmark.
This lovely-looking and completely comfortable ring is a classic historic piece by a classic
historic Native artist, one of the truly greatest Navajo silversmiths of all time.
SOLD
