Featured Old Pawn Fred Harvey Trade Bracelets

These are the bracelets I spoke of before. Purchased about 1956-58 on first trip to SW with my very meager child's allowance - probably cost less than a dollar each. Purchased on a reservation.
Seem to be made on same blanks with different decor. Sterling. No marks.
Patd

 

Really pretty. I like the snake around the center. Thanks for showing those.

 

Wow.....I've never seen anything like those before..
they look like castings or machine made bands with castings soldered on top.....or anything other than a handmade reservation genuine item....
I'd be surprised if they were indeed 925 sterling...
Just sayin.........

 

They look like souvenir pieces,factory made die stamped bands, designs on the bands hand stamped as one arrow is missing the arrowhead.Small stone looks like turquoise and large stone not sure.Could have been made by NA worker but considered SW without a maker's ID.

 

Here's an exact copy of one listed:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1890-1910-...h=item3b254ec5f0:g:urYAAOSwy2pcDbk2:rk:9:pf:0

 

Is there an actual Fred Harvey connection here, or were you using that as a type?

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Maybe the link just posted answers that, but I'll have to wait until I can see the photos.

But... same question with "old pawn".

 

Along with the key word spamming with no visible proof....Old pawn over used ,no proof it was pawned. Bell Trading Post,no photo of maker's mark,dating on listing just a wild guess.

 

And another on same blank:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Old-Pawn-c...=item3d4c9211fe:g:HQ0AAOSwEYBaeeMs:rk:51:pf:0

Maybe they are coin silver instead of sterling. I don't know anything more than I told you. I really appreciate the input. Maybe they were made so little girls like I was could buy something.
MOS, after searching, they are terms that they show up under. I don't know if they have any connection to Fred Harvey or Old Pawn.
BTW, there is one with the same blank showing up in Solds.

 

At that date, my guess would be made in Occupied Japan - maybe .950

I really doubt they were made in this country

 

This is Bell Trading Post info for the same time period,they made hundreds of this type of items,they did have NA employees,but their products were not considered NA made. https://estatesintime.com/jewelry-research/bell-trading-post/

 

"designs on the bands hand stamped as one arrow is missing the arrowhead"

& the ebay one is missing a circle...& has a metal blob over one of the X's..

There is no hand work here whatsoever....the whole band is die stamped....fast and poorly..............

 

The "blob" is a ball of solder,if you look at the lower opening on the left side you will see around 2-3mm area is filled with solder,the arc design above it also has a ball of solder.If the design was die stamped,there would be no no missing circle or arrowhead.

 

The designs are identical....they're just poorly struck.
or the die got fouled....or whatever....these bands are not hand carved or hand etched or hand anything !

 

For less than a dollar each, even in those days, it is very a pretty pair. Both stones look like turquoise to me, and the silver could be coin silver. You could have it tested.
But I am with the others, they are mass produced, not Fred Harvey, and certainly not Old Pawn.

It has been suggested that a better term for the jewellery often called 'Fred Harvey' would be Railroad jewelry, made for tourists who visited the area when the railroads made it more accessible.
Railroad jewelry is profusely decorated with symbols, just like your bracelets.
The marketing people of Fred Harvey and other companies thought up very nice meanings of the symbols and published charts so you could look up what your bracelet symbolised. Native Americans were not consulted in the making of those charts.

Old Pawn is the heavy, quality jewellery SW Native Americans wore themselves. It had enough weight in silver, turquoise and coral to be valuable in the pawn system which was used instead of bank loans. In many places it was impossible for Native Americans to get a bank loan. In some it still is.

One of the listings also mentioned a peyote bird. The peyote bird is a very graceful religious symbol, and is nowhere to be found on the bracelet.
The squat bird on the bracelets is the so-called 'thunderbird', a design inspired by petroglyphs and copyrighted by the Fred Harvey co in 1909.

 

For some reason I can't access the link, maybe because I am in Europe?

It is on a different blank, yours have more scalloped 'arches' on the central part.

 

Thanks everyone and I agree with everything you have said.
Old Pawn and Fred Harvey is keyword spamming to find similar items.
I pulled out some almost antique diaries to see when we were there and the route we took. We drove out in 1949 and joined Rt 66 in Oklahoma City and drove it the whole way from there except for some side trips to see the Petrified Forest, Grand Canyon and a few other sites. I think my Brownie Hawkeye is still in the Forest someplace!
If I wanted to list and sell these without keyword spamming, what would you suggest as titles?
Patd

 

It's sort of comical how many of the keywords spammers have llamas on theirs

Why isn't llama pronounced yama?

 

I don't know about an exact title, but silver and turquoise Southwest cuff bracelet, reservation bought in 1949 would be correct as a description.
I would be fine with Fred Harvey style as well, but always add the word 'style'. Even Fred Harvey Era would be correct, going by this description:

"The peak of the Fred Harvey era tourist-quality Native American style jewelry was from 1900-1930, the decline caused mainly by the closure of the railroad depot lunchrooms and shops. Even so, it continued to be produced until the mid 1940s or 1950s."
https://nativeamericanjewelrytips.wordpress.com/2015/11/17/fred-harvey-the-man-the-era-the-jewelry/

Here is a new term to me, the 'Pretty Girl bracelet':
https://nativeamericanjewelrytips.w...2/split-shank-pretty-girl-and-wire-bracelets/

And be sure to add 'snake', people love snake jewellery. I do too.

 

I would call these cuff bracelets, I think bangles are complete circles with no gap for putting them on.

 

You're absolutely right, it was still early. Too early it seems. I've just changed it.