Augustine and Rosalie Pinto, Zuni
Vintage Sterling Silver
Mudhead Kachina Ring
HK Item #VR195 - size 9 1/2

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What is a Kachina?

A kachina is one of many supernatural beings who play a role in the religious beliefs and rituals of Pueblo Indian peoples. A kachina is also a masked dancer believed to embody a particular spirit during a religious ceremony. Also, a kachina is a carved doll in the costume of a particular spirit.

Who is the Mudhead Clown Kachina?

The Mudhead Clown is a multi-faceted kachina that, during the rest times in dances, might engage in games with the boys and girls that are watching the dances. Mudheads might also be drummers during a dance. Mudhead has a gourd over each ear and one on top of his head. His body is painted with dark clay.

Paula's Collection                   

During my early years, I accompanied my parents on trips every year, usually to Florida to escape the harsh midwest winters but also out west on summer road trips. During those trips, I accumulated the type of tourist grade Native American jewelry that a kid would buy and now, years later those items are referred to as being "Fred Harvey" style. Fred Harvey was an entrepreneur who created an avenue for Indians to make and sell jewelry to the tourists. Jewelry of the Fred Harvey era has typical Indian kitsch of arrows, tomahawks, tipis, thunderbirds and so on and was most produced from 130- throughout the 1950s.

You can read more about Fred Harvey here.

From childhood through college and beyond, I had an eye for that type of jewelry and collected it, yet rarely wore it !! About the only jewelry I wore for years was a Swiss Army watch and my wedding band. My Mother, also a jewelry lover, gave me a few vintage Native American pieces she had picked up. That really got me interested in older pawn items.Yet I was a collector, not a wearer.

Then suddenly, about ten years ago I started wearing first one Native American item, then another and soon I felt incomplete if I didn't wear at least one bracelet and necklace or pendant. Now I wear rings, belt buckles, watches and all things Native American. My favorites include lapis lazuli items, water bird pendants, Hopi bracelets and pendants, anything with Man in the Maze on it, silver beads, heishi of all kinds, storyteller bracelets, rings of all kinds, all kinds of fetishes and more.

Once I started working here at Horsekeeping and they added Native American jewelry to the website, my personal collection quickly outgrew my jewelry box.....so much so that I had to make a rule. Maybe some of you have done this with the clothes or shoes or purses in your closet. For every new item I bring into my personal collection, I must trade out at least one item. I've been doing this for years and now have quite a box of items that I will list in my own section "Paula's Collection".

When I first began collecting Native American items, I didn't realize the importance of knowing the artist's name - if I liked something and wanted it, I bought it. But now with all of our personal contacts with artists, our reference library, and our interest in providing as much information as we can to our customers, we are all very interested in finding out the artist's name, relatives, and tribal affiliation. So I'll do my best to give you the most information I can on each piece.

I hope you enjoy browsing through our pawn shop - and Paula's Collection - it is a treasure trove of American History!

ABOUT TURQUOISE

Turquoise is associated with the sky, and bringing sky energy to earth. It is known as a master healer stone as it is believed to help speed the healing process. It is also thought that turquoise can help promote honest and clear communication from the heart.
Turquoise comes in all shades of blue, to blue-green and it is the natural variations in turquoise that make it appealing. The color of turquoise in American Indian jewelry ranges from brownish green to bright blue. Found in veins sandwiched in between layers of mother rock, turquoise can show some of the influence of the mother rock in its matrix or veining. The matrix colors range from blue to golden brown to black and sometimes with golden flecks. Many people prefer turquoise with matrix over clear stones. Read more about stones.

About Native American Rings

Materials

Southwest Native American rings can be made from many materials but usually are sterling silver alone or embellished with turquoise, coral, jet, mother of pearl, petrified wood, abalone, lapis lazuli, jasper, gaspeite, malachite, spiny oyster, tiger eye, white buffalo stone, onyx, opal, bear claws and much more.

Styles

The styles of Southwest Native American rings are many and varied including bands, single stone, shadowbox, cigar band, pictorial inlay, cobblestone, corn row and mosaic inlay, storyteller, sandcast and tufa cast, cluster, petit point, needlepoint, snake eye, overlay, feather, leaf, channel inlay and others.

Navajo

Zuni

Zuni rings are usually either stone-on-stone inlays (no silver channels in between the pieces), snake rings, snake eye, petit point or needlepoint.

Hopi

Hopi rings are most often sterling silver overlays with contrasting (oxidized) and textured backgrounds.

Read more in my blog post: Southwest Native American Rings