Zuni Made
2011
Seeing Red – The Story Behind American Indian Coral and Spondylus Shell Jewelry
Shopping for Native American jewelry, you may have noticed lots of red . . . (and orange) . . . for the color in all shades is one of the most revered in Southwestern American Indian jewelry. Two materials, Coral and Spondylus Shell, are used to create that jewelry in all colors red.
The appeal of the color red has been around for quite some time. Spondylus shell or spiny oyster comes from the Gulf of Mexico and South America. It can be found in purple, yellow, red, and orange hues. It has been used in bead making by Native Americans even in pre-historic times. Therefore, upon first contact with the Europeans, Native Americans already had a standing tradition of hand shaping red and orange spondylus shell into beads. It is no surprise, then, that when Europeans introduced red coral harvested from the Mediterranean Sea to the Native Americans, it, too, became a prized material for adornment. Navajo, Hopi and Pueblo people adeptly hand-ground, hand-cut, and hand-drilled this coral into regularly shaped beads that were readily adopted into their jewelry making. In fact, we know that the Hopi wore coral necklaces in the 1870′s and 1880′s at their snake dances.
Among the 20th century Zuni, we credit trader C.G. Wallace with doing much to stimulate the use of natural Mediterranean coral among Zuni jewelers like Leekya Deyuse and Dan Simplicio. That is, until World War II, when it became difficult to import Mediterranean from Italy, an enemy of the United States. During the Second World War, when new supplies of Mediterranean coral were no longer available, American Indian jewelers returned to using spondylus shell to complete their red and orange jewelry. After the war, Mediterranean coral could be obtained again, but the supply, once believed to be inexhaustible, was soon greatly depleted due to over-harvesting and pollution.
Today, it is very difficult to obtain high quality Mediterranean coral. It is very rare and very valuable, indeed. Unless it is taken from older supplies, most of the coral used today comes from Japan and Australia. There is also, of course, “fake” coral, which is either poor grade coral dyed to be redder in color or glass beads. In the 1970′s, one could go into an American Indian pawnshop and see rows of natural Mediterranean coral necklaces for sale, but now the pawn vaults only hold a small number. As this resource gets more and more rare, values will continue to go up.
The Native American people consider coral a sign of wealth and status – the more strands, the better. Inheritance might even be passed down in coral. When you look at early multi-strand coral necklaces, it becomes evident that the wearer added strands of coral as they were able, as their wealth or social standing grew. Once, American Indian artist, Mary Rosetta brought out a few shoeboxes of her “private coral” for dealers to admire; for this was the equivalent of her savings account.
Next time you see the color red in American Indian jewelry, take a moment to admire the fine natural materials in that jewelry, and how painstakingly American Indians have worked those materials to create a wearable form of art.
About the Author
Bonnie McClung is the manager/director of Martha Hopkins Struever, a Santa Fe, New Mexico based gallery of fine American Indian art.
Zuni artists make etched glass 1 of 2
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