Mark Chee (1914-1981) was one of the Navajo Nation's most famous silversmiths. His silverware work was precise and clean. He used top-quality turquoise. Toward the end of his career, he always had a line of customers waiting for his work

Back in December, we featured a Navajo artist named Fritson Toledo who was making some incredible jewelry that looked like it could have come out of the early 1900s.

That is not easy to do.

I believe that the Squash Blossom necklace is one the most beautiful jewelry designs in the history of the world!

How’s that for a strong opinion?

One of the nicest people I have met in the last few years is a silversmith named Karl Nataani. Karl is about my age, and lives on the Navajo reservation north of Winslow.

A lot of you know that my father was a Pepsi Cola dealer in Durango and got into the Navajo Rug business by trading Pepsi accounts for rugs with the trading posts. One of the jobs that I had before I got out of college was driving a Pepsi delivery truck and a couple of my routes were on the Northern Navajo reservation.

A couple of months ago, we sent a newsletter that talked about one of our favorite silversmiths, Jeanette Dale, that featured a beautiful sterling silver necklace and earring set made with #8 Turquoise from a mine by that name in the Lynn Mining District of Eureka County, Nevada.

Harry Morgan spent his life in and around Gallup, New Mexico. He won awards at every major Indian art show. The year before he died there was an exhibit at the Heard Museum featuring several of his silver boxes.

What does it mean to be the “first” to do something? It takes the ability to put your ego on the line and to take a chance with the confidence that it will work out.

Zuni Silversmith Dan Simplicio was one of those people. He lived a short life of 52 years, passing away in 1969. He was the first to use coral in its natural form, the first to set rough cut coral in rings and he introduced the common use of leaf work in Zuni jewelry.

Effie Calavaza is a Zuni Silversmith whose work has captured the hearts of many collectors. She was born in 1928 and started making jewelry in the 1950’s. She is still doing some silver work although she has passed her designs down to her daughters.

The Fall Gallery Walk was founded in 1983 by the four original members of the Durango Gallery Association. Toh-Atin Gallery is the last one standing of the original group and we are happy that the Gallery Association continues to grow in both numbers and quality.

Do you ever wish you had taken a picture of someone or some thing and didn’t?

That’s the way I feel about Willie Yazzie. He was a wonderful Navajo silversmith who worked for years demonstrating his art at Mesa Verde National Park.

We often get requests for bracelets that will fit large wrists and right now, we have a nice selection of good ones. Here are three Navajo style pieces that I thought you might enjoy seeing.