Pierre Lecomte du Noüy Jewelry Collection: The Jewelry

The Jewelry
What might we learn from a close look at the jewelry in the Lecomte du Noüy Collection? 

Given the sizes and styles of jewelry, along with the way some are listed on the inventory Mary Lecomte du Noüy provided, some pieces she would have worn and others more likely her husband’s. The only direct evidence is a silver and turquoise cuff bracelet (E-7439) that appears in Mary’s portrait. Living in social circles of New York and Paris, it is likely that neither would have regularly adorned themselves with Native American jewelry. 

Several of the cuffs are heavy, and of a wrist size more likely to have fit Mr. Lecomte du Noüy. It is easy to imagine Du Noüy wearing the ketoh, concha belts, belt buckles, and larger cuffs to accentuate his cowboy persona. 

The three squash blossom necklaces, are large and weighty. These necklaces may not have been worn at all, but purchased simply as collector’s items, they no doubt reminding Pierre of his times spent in Indian Country. 

The period of 1920-1940 was before it was common for silversmiths to sign their works. One piece, a cuff (E-7438) has the only hallmark, quadruped figure identified as a dog. The only other mark is scratched onto the back of a Zuni pin, likely a trader price code. 

To research the du Noüy Collection, items were compared with other published examples and perspectives were sought from scholars in the field and a respected Diné jeweler, Alex Beeshligaii, of Tucson.

The advisors were: Mark Bahti, Tucson gallery owner and prolific author; Jonathan Batkin, former director of the Wheelwright Museum in Santa Fe; independent researcher-authors Pat and Kim Messier and Robert Bauver; and museum professional and jewelry author Dr. Shelby Tisdale. Amerind Museum director Dr. Eric Kaldahl kindly provided access to their outstanding collection of thousands of Zuni jewelry items, and offered valuable perspectives. Somewhat surprisingly, very few pieces at the Amerind showed any similarities with the Zuni jewelry in the Du Noüy Collection. This is a testament to the vast variety of jewelry Zuni artisans have produced over the last century plus. Diana Pardue, Senior Curator at the Heard Museum, made their extensive collections available for viewing. 

Although the Lecomte du Noüy Collection is not large, there are fine jewelry examples contained therein. The story of the French scientist collector and the circumstances of his acquiring his collection is a unique one, intriguing, and appropriate for his theatrical life, quite entertaining.  Along with the additional research on the jewelry pieces themselves presented here, it is hoped that this online exhibit will contribute to efforts to date, identify the makers of, and otherwise document the thousands of Native jewelry pieces in museums and private collections throughout the world. 

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Mark Bahti: The winged sun was most likely made by the Cellicion Family. The Knife Wing by Leo Poblano (1905-1959). It has a trader code PANY. I was interested to learn that not all trader codes were specific to individual traders, that some were shared so they could be interpreted in subsequent transactions. 

Jonathan Batkin: I would date these to the 1940s. 

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Robert Bauver: When John Adair was doing his field work at Zuni in 1938 the multi stone mosaic work was a relatively new development. During the following war years when both silver and turquoise were in short supply "Zuni inlay" came into its own. Using more available shell and jet along with limited turquoise and requiring less silver for settings inlaid jewelry provided income for both jeweler and traders. In the post war years the introduction of electricity and power grinding wheels, inlaid jewelry became an established art form. Given the delicacy of the two pins in the collection versus the more massive character of the other pieces, I would go so far as to speculate that they were acquired at a somewhat later date perhaps well into the 1950s. 

Pat and Kim Messier: These pins are likely to date to the 1940s. The silverwork is too modern to be any older. 

Amerind Museum: In perusing the vast Zuni mosaic overlay collection at the, this was the only piece that came at all close to being comparable. Both the stonework and silverwork are by Theodore Edaakie.

Bauver: This bracelet could well date post WWII but FYI there is one virtually identical in the Wallace sale, lot 395 identified as Eskie Tsosie, 1927. 

Given that Pierre Du Noüy’s last trip to the American West was in 1943, he may have purchased these pins while at the dude ranch in Bayfield, Colorado. There is also the possibility that he purchased them in 1938 at the Gallup Intertribal Indian Ceremonial. It is unlikely that Mary Lecomte du Noüy would have added these pins to this collection after Pierre’s passing in 1947. 

Bauver: This bracelet could well date post WWII but FYI there is one virtually identical in the Wallace sale, lot 395 identified as Eskie Tsosie, 1927.

Beeshligaii: This is a really cool cuff. It shows some very good stamping. Looks like commercial bezel and commercial wire around the bezel. Everything flows together with this cuff. There are five separate pieces put together at the ends. The silver balls tie it in, making the design much more interesting; they also help to stabilize the wire. Excellent soldering; you can’t even see it!

Messiers: The delicacy of this work leads us to believe it’s a 1940s piece, possibly after WWII.

The Messiers noticed a cuff with the flattened dots in a 2024 virtual Whitehawk antique show, identified as having been made by Zuni silversmith Jerry Watson. He and his brother Raymond Watson worked for fellow Zuni smith Horace Aiuli, according to John Adair (1944:142). https://virtualwhitehawk.com/exhibitors-details/?aid=6390 

This cuff greatly resembles one illustrated from the Doneghy Collection at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts (Lincoln 1982: 65). It is dated c. 1935, purchased in 1952 as pawn at the Fred Harvey Company in Albuquerque. The distinctive flattened teardrops and twisted wire scrolls may eventually allow a more precise identification. 

Bauver: When I first saw this my assumption was that it was an example of the exuberant Navajo silver work often seen on jewelry set with petrified wood. Now that we have other examples, I'm left with the conclusion that it is a short-lived design characteristic of possibly a single smith.

Beeshligaii: A very light cuff. Totally rad with twisted wires and the stamp work. Probably #12 triangle wire. This is the first time I have seen flat dots. The look is almost like filigree. I see #20 and #26 twist wire. What makes it every more interesting are the stamped bits in the shape of belt tips on ranger sets, Excellent stamp work. Natural oils that change the turquoise’s color, indicate that the cuff had been worn. Fine files and then sandpaper were likely used to finish the dots. That is what is cool. These people did not have access to sanding wheels, just leather strap for polishing. 

Messiers: The twisted wire embellishments lead us to believe this could be of Pueblo origin, 1930s.

Bahti: I would date this to 1930s. The shank is cast and hammered, instead of being split with a chisel. Turquoise is likely Blue Gem (95% sure), with the green near the brown matrix.

Beeshligaii: Flat, heavy sheet that was split into two and the outer bars soldered on. There are two pieces on side of stone. They came from a die, repousse. Nice beads soldered on. Bezel is serrated, would say the cuff may be more recent, into the 1960s. Very high polish on the stone. Could be Persian?

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Messiers: Navajo, late 1930s though it could be as late as the early 1940s, definitely before WWII.

We are familiar this hallmark of what is believed to be a dog. We have a table box with the same mark, see images below. This hallmark is typically found on pieces that exhibit stamp work and designs characteristic of work done by Navajo silversmiths for CG Wallace before WWII. No one has as yet identified the silversmith that used this hallmark. Hougart did document the mark in the Institution, Shops and Manufacturer Marks section of his 5th edition. We helped supply information for this entry on Wallace.

Bahti: There is an 80% chance the turquoise is from a Nevada mine. Sixty percent likely to be Number 8. 

Beeshligaii: This cuff has repousse design patterns, is almost modern in look. There are filigree style arcs around the stone. Maybe influence from Taxco? Cuff consists of three plates on four 18-gauge round twisted wires. Turquoise has a high polish. 

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Bahti: I would call this late 1920s. It is almost certainly Pilot Mountain turquoise, which they started mining in the 1920s. Maybe some of the stones are [from the] Royston [Mine in Nevada]. 

Bauver: Regarding the heavy Navajo cluster, there is an example I feel is by the same smith illustrated in a Museum of New Mexico reprint of El Palacio Vol 79. No.1 called Turquoise. (1973:26) I agree 1920s. (See cuff right) 

Beeshligaii: Nice round wires on this cuff, #14 round wire. Whew, nice. Handmade bezels, almost 24 gauge bezel silver. Ten mostly green turquoise stones on the face. The thing that is cool, the two sides are different. One stone is very different in color, more toward blue. Sheet that it is sitting on is 18 gauge. Nowadays, even for myself, I don’t make such thick end bars. The ends are heavy unlike now. 

Messiers: Leaning more towards the 1920s on this bracelet.

This simple ring with a spiderweb dome turquoise cabochon has similar trio of round wires with teardrops where they meet the bezel. A similar ring, dated to the 1930s, from the Doneghy Collection is illustrated in (Lincoln 1982: 176).

Bahti: This is a dark matrix turquoise, not spiderweb, from one of the Nevada mines. The edges of the bezel are tapered to make it easier to set the stone. 

Beeshligaii: Handmade bezel soldered onto a sheet. A wide sheet cut up to form. Very well done. I like it when you can see the file marks and markings from the sand paper they used to try to polish the file marks off. Stone is a bit loose.

This ring has the only description of its source in accession records: “Given to donor’s husband by a medicine man.” 

Bahti: Nevada turquoise. The ring shank is cast flat. The stone appears to be lapidary cut rather than hand cut and polished. The shape of the ring’s shank is more associated with 1930s. 

Beeshligaii: A man’s ring, Whoever hand cut the bezel made only one mistake at the end. Probably the sheet was cast from tufa. The fans soldered onto ring are great. The stone is beautiful too. Lots of matrix.

Messiers: We think this could be as old as 1920 due to the stone which looks hand polished and the big serrated bezels.

This is a particularly ornate sand cast ketoh with a square turquoise setting, set on a commercial leather wristband, One can imagine Du Noüy on horseback wearing this ketoh as he entertained onlookers with rope antics along the Bois de Boulogne in the Paris of the early 1900s. Or he might have obtained this on later trips to the West.

Bahti: This turquoise stone has a soft look of hand cutting and polishing. The “buttons” on the ends of the swirled elements are not part of the original casting, or is the bezel. 

Beeshligaii: Wow. Wonderfully done. A tufa pour, really cool design, the design influenced by what the artist had seen. You can still see some of the markings on the silver. Handmade bezel, a plate is soldered on top to hold the stone in. A bit off set; now folks try to make it completely centered. Keep the top the same. Everything about it is great; whoever did this had some good thoughts.This technique is very hard to do on such an intricate design.

Bahti: The turquoise could be Cerrillos in this necklace. The style of naja fits with the 1920s. Such necklaces were common direct trade items between Kewa and Navajo people. I have heard that Kewa traders would take the “milk run” train to Flagstaff, rent a horse and ride to the Navajo Reservation to conduct their business.

Bahti: This looks stylistically to be fabricated using hammered ingot rather than hand-rolled silver. 

Messiers: In agreement with 1890-1910 date.

Beeshligaii: The beads are not all the same size, even though they were probably cut out the same. I love this. Now we have a steel die that forms one side of the dome. The cable runs through the naja holder, and file marks are still there. Handmade wire, graduated sizes of the naja. Bezel on the stone is hand made. The thing about it, now days when we do the pomegranates, we solder the pomegranate on. For this one they inserted the petals into holes in the beads. To make the beads, they would cut out circular disks, then pound them Into oak wood “craters.”  Silver was polished with wood, enhanced sometime with animal fat. Whoever the artist was they had good thoughts. The loops on the pomegranates are all different. Another way to tell this is an older squash.

Bahti: Very likely made by someone in the Ondelacy family at Zuni. The turquoise could well be from the Fox Mine in Nevada. 

Bauver: Concerning the Zuni squash blossom necklace, When Ruth Falkenburg Kirk arrived at Zuni in 1926 she mentions turquoise stones set in flower like clusters. A similar if less elaborate Zuni squash blossom necklace, dated c. 1925, from the Charles Eagle Plume Collection at the University of Colorado, is illustrated in Bedinger (Indian Silver: Navajo and Pueblo Jewelers), page 144.

The high levels of craftsmanship and quality of matched stones as well as the firmly established style of work makes me think this is more the work associated with the 1930s. A beautiful necklace.

Bahti: I would give 80% odds that this has Lone Mountain [Nevada] turquoise settings.

Bauver: This necklace is another story [from necklace E-7429 above]. In the evolution of Zuni necklaces the earlier versions have a three or four stone arrangement similar to what you see here with a single blossom extending outward from the setting. Najas were constructed of stamped triangular bars bordering a flat strip of silver which bore closely set stones along its length. This arrangement appears on many examples in the late 20s well into the 30s and perhaps as far as the early 40s. The pairing of blossoms is very unusual for a necklace of this date. 1920s. They appear later on the work of the Edaakies and perhaps a few other families working for Wallace. There is a photo of Della Casa, the first woman silversmith at Zuni, wearing a necklace of similar construction with a naja. This one is really cool.

Pierre Lecomte du Noüy likely wore this belt and buckle.

Bahti: The stones are lapidary cut, I would estimate a 1900-1930 manufacture date.

Bauver: The cast buckle is hard to date accurately as the styles with some variation remained similar for decades. The stones may have been a later addition.

Beeshligaii: This is a tufa cast carving, one whole piece. I like the scallops and the “feathers” extending out. This is a really cool buckle. Really awesome design. I’m inspired by it.

Messiers: We could easily date this buckle to c. 1920, possibly older. The domed stones appear to be hand polished, the tongue is hand hammered and the bezels are rather crude.

Although this belt does not show great signs of having been worn, Pierre Du Noüy likely purchased it for his own use.

Bahti: With the stamped arcs and arrows, the buckle was likely Navajo made

Messiers: Ranger” style buckle with typical late 1930s tourist style stamp decoration.

The link belt at center is more a woman’s style. The concha belt at the bottom shows wear, and would have fit well into Monsieur Du Noüy’s cowboy attire. 

Messiers: 

Top belt, has the same flattened dots as bracelet, E-7439, the work is very clean and modern. We estimate 1940s, possibly after the war, and Pueblo origin. Possibly the maker is Jerry Watson, Zuni, see Pat and Kim’s comments on cuff above.

Middle belt, nice work, good stones, late 1930s.

Beeshligaii: I like it [link belt] since it has handmade bezel, and each stone is different. Design is different. I sometimes look at things and see, have I seen this belt before. The buckle is particularly eye-catching. Nice butterflies.

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