It’s Tuesday, no longer “Turquoise,” despite the color of the sky. We wrapped up that series with the old year, although we may occasionally use this slot to highlight specific forms of the Skystone when we have something new and exciting to show you. However, I thought it might be useful to turn our attention on Tuesdays to other aspects of Native silversmithing and gemwork, in the context of Wings’s own vocation. To that end, we’ll spend the next few weeks looking at his primary medium: metal materials, tools used, smithing techniques, other materials (including gemstones other than turquoise). For today, though, we’ll focus on the primary material itself, the metal that forms the foundation of his work: Silver.
WHAT IS SILVER?
“Silver” is many things: a chemical element; a metal; a byproduct of other metals; a color. Its symbol in the periodic table of elements is Ag, from either (or both) Greek and Latin roots: In the former, árguros; in the latter, argentum. From either language it translates into English as signifying something both gray in color and shining in appearance.
For our purposes, its most significant identity is as a metal, and again, it comes in two basic forms (as well as multiple subsidiary forms; we’ll get to those shortly). Native silver is exactly what it sounds like: a naturally-occurring metal, extracted directly from the earth as silver ore. (Silver may also be found co-occurring naturally with other metals or minerals, in which case it’s classified as an alloy.) The other form is simply a byproduct of the process used to refine certain other metals (copper, gold, lead, zinc). It’s real silver, not something synthetic, but it’s not “native silver,” either. It also constitutes by far the greatest proportion of what’s on the market today, whether for use in jewelry and art, coinage, or technological applications, or traded on commodities markets.
SILVER IN INDIAN JEWELRY
In plain terms, silver is the standard for Indian jewelry, and nowhere is that more true than here in the Southwest. Part of that is no doubt due to the fact that, over the last century-plus, it was a metal that was relatively readily available, both via mining operations (whether native silver or as a byproduct), or via the melting down of silver coins, something that was long a popular practice among Native artisans and jewelers.
For use in jewelry, silver comes in various forms and degrees of purity (including, today, outright pretenders that are not obvious), and we’ll get to each in turn.
FORM
First, forms: Historically, Native silversmiths used what was available to them, which often required labor-intensive work. Native silver, of course, existed in some areas, but without modern refining and processing tools and equipment, it would have been used in a fairly rough fashion, probably mostly in tiny accent work.
Once the technology became available, however, Indian artisans were off and running. When they could get it, they would use silver from the mining operations that dotted the Southwest for over a century (and in some places, remain running yet today). When the
y couldn’t, they turned to coins. In the old days, silver coins were genuine silver, not the much less expensive mix of alloys found in them today. Sometimes the coins were used as accents in their existing form; especially popular were Indian-head nickels and buffalo nickels, like the example shown at right, but dimes, fifty-cent pieces, and silver dollars were used, too. Perhaps more often, the coins were hammered and rolled to make conchas for belts or other items, or simply melted down for use in whatever form the artist preferred. Today, Native silversmiths commonly work in silver in one of three primary forms: ingot, wire, and sheet silver.
Ingot
Ingot is just what it sounds like: Silver that has been melted into a solid block, whether via a mold or in a more free-form shape, that is in turn processed in specific ways. Large blocks may be melted and used for cast work (such as sand, tufa, or cuttlefish casting, all of which we’ll cover in a later edition). Smaller bits of ingot may be rolled through a mill, or even hammered into shape. An example of a piece made directly from ingot is shown at right; an example of a rolled (milled) piece, although of wire rather than ingot, is shown at the beginning of this subsection.
Wire
Silver wire, in terms of what’s used in making full-sized pieces of jewelry, isn’t actually “wire” at all, at least as most folks envision it. We think of wire, at least in terms of metal, as something hair-thin and flexible. Much of the sterling silver wire used in jewelry is anything but. For silversmithing and jewelry work, it’s now easy to find silver that has been molded into specific lengths, usually by yards (or meters, if measuring on the metric system). Some of it is indeed a size and shape that most people would regard as wire: very thin and fine, flexible, easily used for wrapping or trim; sometimes, it’ll come a form that’s already twisted and suitable for accenting bezels. But as with sheet silver, discussed below, it comes in a whole range of gauges 
(or thicknesses), but also in a variety of shapes: round (exactly what it sounds like); half-round, which, on its end, is shaped like a half-orb; square (again, what it sounds like); triangle, which is actually a pyramidal shape that looks like a triangle on the cut end; and a seemingly endless selection of braided, twisted, and stamp-cut shapes and patterns. An example of triangle wire is shown at upper left; of braided stamp-cut wire at lower right.
Sheet
Sheet silver is likewise just what it sounds like: silver that has been hammered into a sheet of a particular size and thickness, or gauge. It can then be cut into other forms for particular use. As units of measurement, metal “gauges” are like medical hypodermic needles: the smaller the number, the thicker the item. Wings frequently uses 16-, 18-, and even 20-gauge sheet silver for items like earrings, pendants, and pins; an example appears in the Pueblo pin at left. For cuff bracelets that are not made with sterling silver wire, he tends toward heavier-gauge sheet silver, often 8- or 9-gauge. I have pieces made from sheet silver across the size spectrum.
PURITY
Purity is a contentious issue. Some of it has to do with honest confusion, due to both historical and contemporary factors. Part of it has to do with how it’s marketed. We’ll clear up the terms below.
Fine Silver
“Fine silver” is a term that gets used in a couple of different ways. By itself, the two-word phrase “fine silver” refers to virtually pure silver, as close to 100% as it’s possible to get. It’s very soft and fragile, not something that can be used to form jewelry other than as an accent, much like goldleaf. One of Wings’s cousins who is an artist has been using it as a design accent on artificial fashion fingernails.
Sterling Silver
Nearly all silver on the market today is actually a silver alloy — that is, it’s silver mixed with another metal. Generally speaking, this is perfectly normal; for jewelry purposes, it’s even desirable. Pure silver, like pure gold, is too soft and fragile for use in jewelry-making; it would never survive the smithing process, to say nothing of daily wear. It only becomes an issue when it’s passed off as something it’s not.
To be classified as “sterling,” silver must have a minimum degree of purity. Sterling silver, sometimes called “standard silver,” is a metal alloy, or mix, that exists along a spectrum of purity, ranging from a floor of 90% to a “fine sterling”upper end of 98.9%. Generally accepted, at least in the U.S., is an alloy of 92.5% silver, with copper added in a ratio of 7.5%. In the U.K., a form called Britannia silver has greater purity yet, at 95.8%, and is common to hallmarked British silverware, including plateware and utensils. There are also various proprietary processes and treatments used to strengthen the silver, improve its resistance to firescale (an effect that occurs in soldering and other high-heat treatments), and enhance its color and shine.
Wings rarely uses anything but sterling, although on a few occasions, he’s come into possession of coin silver via trade and subsequently used it — and has labeled it accordingly. We’ve also occasionally bought coin and nickel silver items from other Native artists, and sold them, properly labeled, in our Other Artists: Miscellaneous Jewelry category. But with Wings’s work, unless otherwise specified, it’s fine sterling silver.
Coin Silver
There was a time when silver U.S. coins actually were silver. Those days are long gone, but the traditional Indian use of coins in jewelry and art is not. However, the fact of the color and the name creates confusion and misuse of the terms.
“Coin silver,” as a classification, refers to the 90% standard that is the absolute floor for sterling, as mentioned above. It’s nothing that’s used for coins today; virtually all modern “silver” U.S. coins are silver in color only, with not even the tiniest amount of that precious metal present in their content. Nickels contain, predictably, nickel, but only in a ratio of 25%; the remaining 75% is copper. Dimes and quarters? More than 91% copper, with just over 8% nickel. The barrette shown at left is one of those pieces I mentioned earlier that Wings made with some coin silver acquired in trade . . . sold precisely as coin silver.
When someone wants to sell you a piece made of “coin silver,” make sure it’s actual coin silver, and not the faux “silver” used in coins.
Nickel Silver
This brings us to “nickel silver.” A lot of people think it comes from nickel coins, and in a sense it does, but not in the way they might think. It’s a pretender, a fraud, a fake: As with nickel coins, nickel silver contains no silver at all.
Nickel silver is still used in Indian jewelry, and like most metals, it makes for beautiful work. If you have no sensitivities to less pure alloys, or to nickel or copper specifically, and if the look and not the content is what’s important to you, you can find gorgeous pieces at equally gorgeous prices. A problem arises only if it’s passed off as coin silver, or worse, as sterling. And it can be done; we took a piece in trade that was billed as sterling, looked and felt like it. It sat in a case for months. I went to take it out, noticed it needed buffing, and took it into the light to look more closely . . . and discovered that it was nickel silver. The copper peeking through the surface finish was a dead giveaway. The buckle is shown at right; if you click on the photo, you may be able to see the faint copper-colored traces around the edge. It’s still a beautiful piece of workmanship, but it can’t be sold marked “Sterling.”
As precious metals go, silver is particularly useful for Native artists: It looks great, particularly in the styles and with the stones common to Indian jewelry; it’s far less expensive than some of its counterparts, and far more durable than others. Personally, I love it; the color of gold and bronze turns my skin sallow, copper discolors my skin (although I wear it for health reasons despite the green effects), but sterling silver looks good with no discoloration or allergic reaction. The fact that it’s Wings’s chosen medium is simply an added and beautiful bonus.
Next week: Silversmithing techniques.
~ Aji
All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2015; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owners.
