The Silver Hair Drawer

A Vintage Hair Adornment Collection Okay, THIS is why I love buying collections instead of individual pieces. Somebody had a whole damn jewelry wardrobe for their hair. This is a gathered collection of vintage Native American and Southwestern hair adornments—turquoise, sterling silver, cluster work, channel-style inlay, hand stamping, twisted silver, leaves, drops, and those wonderfully strange old forms that almost never make it into modern jewelry collections. There are hair pins here that look like miniature sculptures. Long silver sticks with turquoise finials. A geometric green-and-blue inlay piece. Big stone-covered cluster forms. And that enormous oval silver hair slide that has absolutely no interest in being subtle. These weren’t designed to disappear into the hair. They were designed to finish the person wearing them. Why This Collection Matters Native American hair jewelry occupies a fascinating little corner of Southwestern silversmithing. It uses many of the same techniques we chase in cuffs, rings and necklaces—turquoise setting, cluster work, stamping, twisted wire, appliqué and inlay—but translates them into objects that are both ornamental and functional. And surviving examples don’t seem to receive nearly the attention that comparable jewelry does. A quick look at the current market shows individual vintage or artist-made turquoise barrettes and hair pieces commonly offered from roughly the low hundreds into the $300–$400 range depending on maker, construction and stone quality. That makes finding an entire group like this especially fun. Artifact Registry Collection: The Silver Hair Drawer Origin: Native American / Southwestern, attribution individually where known Materials: Sterling silver, turquoise and assorted stone/inlay materials Forms: Hair pins, hair sticks, barrettes/slides and traditional silver hair ornaments Era: Vintage; individual pieces vary Technique: Hand fabrication, stone setting, cluster work, stamping, twisted wire, appliqué and inlay Condition: Vintage condition with age-appropriate patina and wear Curator’s Field Observation Look at this photograph as a whole and you can basically see a miniature history of Southwestern jewelry construction. One piece is almost architectural. Another is all movement and twisted silver. Another explodes into dozens of individual stones. Another strips everything down to turquoise, silver and a long clean line. That’s the reason I didn’t want to treat these as random accessories. Together they make sense. Eric’s Notes from the Field I am formally requesting that we bring back putting ridiculous amounts of sterling silver and turquoise in our hair. We have apparently gone backwards as a civilization. The Silver Hair Drawer is my evidence.