American Indian Jewelry I by Gregory Schaaf (2003, Hardcover)

American Indian Jewelry I by Gregory Schaaf is an excellent resource book for any collector or buyer of Native American Jewelry. Hundreds of early to contemporary Navajo, Zuni, Hopi and Pueblo silversmiths are listed, with short biographies, pictures, awards, galleries and shops that carry their work and family histories. This is a massive work, building on the research of previous authors, with a good bibliography that's a resource in itself.

It is not my first choice as a reference of Native American signatures and marks, "Hallmarks of the Southwest" by Barton Wright occupies that position. Gregory Schaaf's book is definitely number two, and should not be overlooked by the serious collector.

This is an good reference book for those buying, selling or collecting Southwest Indian jewelry. I buy and sell Native American jewelry and this book has been a helpful resource in my business. The first part of the book has many gorgeous color pictures of both old and contemporary indian jewelry. The book contains 1200 artist biographies and lots of pictures of the artists as well as samples of their work. I'm not crazy about the organization of the book, however. Just alphabetical by artist. Some descriptions of the artists & their work are very short & criptic. So this assumes that you already know the name of the artist and just want to retrieve additional information about the artist. If you are trying to determine the maker of a piece of jewelry by the hallmark, then the book "Hallmarks of the Southwest" by Barton Wright or "Hopi Silver" by Margaret Wright are better resources (See my other reviews - I review both of these books)