We discussed the tufa stone and sandcasting types of molding techniques the Navajo used for their silversmithing, but some of the work that is produced is too thin to be efficiently molded. So how did they make some of the thin detail work?
This was done by hammering out coins! A U.S. silver dollar would be hammered as flat as possible into a desired shape. To create the elaborate designs, a simple chisel was utilized. Later, around 1890, steel dies replaced the chisel, making repetitive patterns much easier to create.
Unfortunately, the U.S. Government did not approve of this ingenious use of silver coins and banned the re-shaping of U.S. currency. But that never deterred the production of jewelry. Artists quickly turned to Mexican pecos, which contained more silver at the time.
