Jewelry

Indigenous jewelry is becoming more and more popular with national and international buyers and collectors. Pacific Northwest Coast native artists are famous for their beautiful designs and fine jewelry. High quality rings, bracelets, earrings and pendants made of silver, gold and argillite are highly valued and collected by native and non-native people.

Indigenous Jewelry Today

Increasingly, West Coast Native Artists are combining different materials for their authentic Native American jewelry like wood, ivory, bone, copper, argillite, shell, cedar bark, beads, feathers, amber, turquoise, leather, silver, and gold as well as other semi-precious stones, to create beautiful and original native masterpieces. Traditionally Native American Jewelry is used in ceremonies, potlatches and everyday life to represent wealth and high standing. All our Native American Jewelry is authentic and made or designed by Canadian West Coast Native Artists. All jewelry made with the unique black stone called argillite, is original Haida argillite jewelry. The following jewelry is mainly inspired by Haida, Coast Salish, and Kwakiutl or Kwakwaka'wakw traditions.

How is Native Pacific Northwest Coast Jewelry carved?

Most Pacific North West Coast Native Artists hand carve their jewelry on a flat piece of precious metal and form it after it is carved. Earrings and pendants are often domed and rings and bracelets are bent and sometimes domed as well. In the case of rings and bands, after they are bent to size they are soldered together at both ends. In nearly all cases contemporary Native Artists sign their original work with either their name, initials or a unique symbol.

Sometimes artist will also carve a beautiful carving and then have a cast done of the original. In this case the cast is filled with the precious metal and then cleaned and polished to make it look very similar to the original carving. Casts can be done as a one of a kind piece, a limited edition or as an open edition.