Native American Antiques
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Native American antiques have been collected though out the centuries for their fine workmanship and very early place in our history. Antique prehistoric pottery pots are very collectible as are the more recent Indian pottery from later times. Also Native American Indian silver jewelry and turquoise are also very sought after.
We buy Native American Antiques! If you would like to sell Antique Navajo Rugs, sell Ansazi Pottery, clay pots or turquoise jewelry plus other interesting pieces or if you want help establishing the value of your Native antique treasures
Contact Gannon's Antiques & Art!
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Despite the fact that Native American Indians have been on the North
American continent for thousands and thousands of years, a lot of their
culture has been lost. Therefore we are excited whenever we find Native
American artifacts such as arrowheads and stones that were used in
their every day life. Gannon's Antiques Mall is also always seeking
prehistoric pottery and Native American antiques such as old blankets,
old pawn jewelry, squash blossom necklaces, and other wonderful
treasures that were made by hand with basic tools. Sometimes we are
lucky enough to acquire whole collections. These are our favorite
because they tend to have more information provided by the previous
collector then when we obtain only an item or two.
There is so much richness and variety in the Native American antiques
collected due to the vast expanse where the North American Indians
lived. There are fine items that were made up in the Northwest where it
was cold and whales and seals were hunted for food. These will differ
greatly from what the Plains Indians or the Southwest desert tribes made
and used in everyday life. Some tribes were known for their bead work,
others for their weaving and yet others for their beautiful pottery.
AMERICAN INDIAN BEADWORK
Native Americans first decorated their clothes with painted designs.
They used natural pigments made of earth, grass, clay and berries. After
which they found they could make beautiful embroidery with porcupine
quills that they colored in the paint pigments. As ornamentation became
more elaborate, the early American natives made beads from bone, dry
berries and shell. They used the beads to make necklaces and decorations
for their bags and their garments.
In the late 1600s the tribes began to get beads from European traders.
These were glass beads typically called pony beads because they were
brought in by the trader's pony pack trains. Later, around the mid 1800s
a smaller glass bead was traded to the Indians. These were called seed
beads which are still used today. One way to tell the age of beadwork
is to look at the size of the beads. In the beginning beads were not
plentiful so most of the work would be painted or embroidered with
porcupine quill. After a time, the beads and quill embroidery work were
joined together. Still later, it was mostly all beadwork and the quill
embroidery was used less and less.
AMERICAN INDIAN JEWELRY
Did you know that Turquoise was mined and turned into jewelry by the
prehistoric Indians as far back as 200 BC in Southern Arizona? It is
thought that the nomadic Navajo, who traded with the Spanish and many
other tribes, were the ones who brought silver to the Native Americans.
They were in contact with the Spaniards in the Southwest from the late
16th century on. Some of the early Spanish designs became key to the
Navajo jewelry including the origin of the squash blossom necklace.