Collection: Watson Honanie Gold and Silver Jewelry

Watson Honanie, Award Winning Hopi Silver and Goldsmith. Watson was the first Native American silversmith to combine both gold and silver in the same jewelry design. He's been doing this for over 30 years. Watson Honanie first came to the general publics attention in the late 1980's when he was featured in the Lois and Jerry Jacka's book, Beyond Tradition. Phillip Honanie, Watson Honanie's brother, taught Watson the basics of Hopi overlay jewelry in the 1970's. Later, in 1981, Bruce McGee (a Hopi trader and dealer) suggested that Watson add a gold element to his jewelry designs. At first, Watson was reluctant to risk investment in such an unknown idea (this had never before been done). Bruce McGee put Watson's fears to rest and promised to buy everything Watson made this way. The idea was immediately successful and now, over 35 years later, we see gold and silver combined by Southwest artists everywhere. Watson Honanie was the first to do this and now rarely makes jewelry any other way. Watson's jewelry is always made of heavy gauge silver and gold. Which, while surely adding to the cost... it adds much more to the feeling of quality that you immediately notice the moment you hold one of Watson's pieces. it should also be pointed out that working in heavy gauge silver and gold is considerably more difficult then working in light metal. Especially when executing complex designs like Watson's.