THE NAME GAME THE NAMELESS COUPLE WITH A DOZEN MONIKERS
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names on pieces where the actual artist was unknown outside the village?
his article might seem out of character, and a little too specialized. In defense, in Gallup, the Native American jewelry business far outgrosses any other merchandise, and always has. Gallup may have started life as a train stop, then a coal mine, but it soon became THE INDIAN CAPITOL OF THE WORLD. By the turn of the last century Indian jewelry had become an important commodity. A century later we find a dozen names that carry super sales power. EVERYBODY IS NAMED DISHTA, OR WEAHKEE OR POBLANO. Leo Poblano only did stoneTHIS IS THE CLASSIC C ELLICION KNIFEWING. THE CURL work, the same as the Cellicions, OF THE WINGS DATES IT TO THE MIDDLE YEARS and yet all kinds of often dreadful things are attributed to him. Of course, there is the influence of C.
Neva and Arnold Cellicion were stone workers, they never set their own pieces, thus are forever unknown. In Skystone and Silver there is a bracelet shown in the fourth color section [they are not paginated] attributed to Navajo John Bedonie. It is a nice Cellicion Knifewing and Bedonie can take credit for the atrocious silver work. In another book there is an
entire concho belt similarly misattributed. This phenomenon has a simple explanation. There is no question in my mind that traders know perfectly well who made every item in their inventory. But if that’s right, where do names like Gordon Leak and Mingos House come from?
G. Wallace who particularly liked Leo’s pieces (he also carved charming fetishIn the famous 1976 auces). Wallace deliberately created tion catalog there are many several superstars. pieces with the wrong names TOM WEAHKEE ATTRIBUTION-on them. Why not put one CELLICION EARLY YEARS--BUT LOOK of the “good” HOW THE WINGS ARE ATTACHED
ARNOLD PREPARING FOR RELIGIOUS ACTIVITY
