Old Pawn / Antique Jewelry

Throughout Indian lands the trading posts serve as pawn shops. When Native Americans need money, they can pawn or sell the artwork and jewelry they have made or collected. This is one of the ways older vintage jewelry and artwork comes onto the market. In some cases the items are pawned: traded for a small loan and kept on hold with intent to redeem the items later when the loan is repaid. If the loan goes unpaid for the contractual length of time, the items are considered "dead pawn", also known as "old pawn", and can be sold by the trader as payment for the loan. Sometimes the term "Old Pawn" is given to vintage or antique Native American items that have been acquired from long time owners or from personal collections. Any Native American jewelry may be give this name if it is tarnished or worn, although it did not come from a pawn shop or reservation trading post. The item may not even be very old, but overall the term means that the item is authentic and pre-owned.

Referring to an item as Antique usually means that it meets a certain age requirement. According to the US customs office, anything 100 years old or older is officially antique. But the true definition of Antique involves the concept of times past. If an item is considered to be from a different era or time period in human society, and is also fairly rare, then it may gain antique status without being 100 years old. Ebay makes a distinction for antiques at 1930 and before, which is not quite 100 years. Many now see World War II as the distinction where items from that era are grouped together in the WWII era category and anything older is officially antique.

Native American Jewelry of the southwest has had several historical turning points which have grouped the jewelry into categories based both on time period and style. Pre-Columbian Indian Jewelry is oldest grouping. This period is hundreds of years old and any surviving jewelry should be a museum. This is before the arrival of the Spanish when Native Americans produced mostly beaded jewelry - no silverwork. The next phase starts around the mid 1800s when metal jewelry begins. This early period is characterized by simple, rough designs in coin silver and the jewelry from this period is widely collected and highly valuable. It continued through the 1930s when techniques and designs became slightly more refined. Native American Jewelry from the 40's and 50's is usually still called antique because it is made in an old style with older stones that are not available today making it highly valued and rare. By the late 60s and early 70's the popularity of Native American Jewelry inspired a new wave of production with its own more modern character. This jewelry is usually referred to as as Vintage. This term covers any piece that is not old enough to be called antique but is aged, pre-owned and full of character. The modern era of Native American jewelry sets in around the mid to late 80's where styles again change slightly reacting to the huge level of overseas competition and shift in Turquoise supply. These styles were produced in great quantity and are common. Only certain artists from today's market, whose quality and designs are unequaled, are given higher status and value.