Santo Domingo Pueblo (NM) Shell Pendant

Artists of the Santo Domingo (Kewa) Pueblo, situated about midway between Albuquerque and Santa Fe along the historic Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad (ATSF), have a long history of selling their jewelry and pottery to tourists traveling to the West. As early as the 1880s/90s, traditional Santo Domingo objects of art found their way into the hands of travelers eager to carry home  a piece of the West and Native America that appealed to their sensibilities. Travelers making their way along historic highway Route 66 added further to this history.

The story I am told about the shell mosaic pendant pictured here is that it was purchased from the shop of well known Santa Fe trader, Rex Arrowsmith, in the early 1970s. Arrowsmith's Relics of the Old West was my first stop on visits to Santa Fe in the late 1980s and early '90s. On snowy mid-winter days, the fireplace was stoking behind the heavy historic door, ornamented with hand forged iron straps, that led into Arrowsmith's on Old Santa Fe Trail. I've never met Rex. I think he was sort of retired by the time I discovered the shop. His name is key in the history of the marketing and trading of Indian art, including the famed Indian Market, which has taken place in Santa Fe for close to 100 years.

One older Santo Domingo jewelry artist told me recently over Labor Day at the pueblo's annual arts and crafts festival that she thinks the piece could date to the 1950s. So far, I haven't seen another piece like it. Maybe I'll know more about it someday, more that is, than that I like it, a lot.