My mother always gave male shoppers good advice when they didn't know what to buy for the women in their lives.

"Every woman needs at least one strand of silver beads!"

Her reasons were pretty simple.

Coral became a popular material for Native artists to work with hundreds of years ago when European Traders began to bring it to the Southwest as a trade item. Early on, the small pieces of coral were drilled and strung on necklaces made of drilled shell beads and, usually, pieces of turquoise.

We recently received three outstanding pieces of Indian jewelry and one made by a legendary white guy who has earned the respect of Native artists.

A few weeks ago, we had a newsletter about the inlay work of Navajo artist Sylvana Apache. She and her husband, Randy Secatero, are also accomplished traditional silversmiths.

In the 1970s, when the #8 Turquoise Mine in Eureka County, Nevada was closing, Jeanette Dale was soldering circuit boards at the Fairchild Electronics Plant south of Farmington, New Mexico. 

I was a couple of years behind Jake Dalla at Durango High School. He was a cool guy. He had a sharp car and he was always nice, even to underclassmen!

This fourth generation Durangoan came from one of the many early Italian families that settled in the Durango area. One of his goals in life was to create a wildlife park and recreation area in honor of his parents.

Storyteller jewelry by Navajo silversmiths have been popular for about 50 years. Not a lot of artists make this style, as it requires a special artistic talent and a lot of time. 

Silver figures of people, hogans, horses, clouds, sheep and even an occasional outhouse are individually cut out of sheet silver and then soldered onto a second sheet that is sometimes stamped with other designs.