I haven’t seen a lot of work by her, so I was scrolling the internet seeing what I could find. Apparently she also works in Zuni, Navajo, and some other unknown southwestern/Egyptian style, according to the wild west of internet Native American jewelry shopping. Check these out…
I mean, come on!! Do these sellers ever do any research? Even a little bit? So to any new forum members, this is the perfect example why I sometimes hate the internet.
You are right. It doesn’t hurt me, because I know what to look for. But it hurts the artists, and the people that truly want to buy legit Native American art but don’t know much about it yet.
Funny thing was a lot of sites that had her work labeled correctly were Japanese (obviously I couldn’t read them, but they had her name listed with for real Hopi jewelry). I have read the Japanese love Hopi jewelry.
I think I have understood the business model of the seller of my last century Navajo stuff.
Buy for price X, which is fairly higher than the price paid by the previous owner many years ago
Possibly handle import from previous owner thru customs as many buyers are not comfortable doing this
Offer for price 2 * (X + customs), provide discount
Fairly quick research, only creative guesswork
No expertise in domain
Authenticity guarantee for lifetime with “no questions asked” money back, very rarely things might go terribly wrong, offer good customer service
This is an easy get-rich business model. Low effort large-amount quick buy and sell, often amazing prices, with previous owner, seller and buyer happy. People might buy chalk as cheese but so what. I do my research and learn a lot, so I’m okay with that.
My problem with it is that is perpetuating false info about Native American art. Do you know how many people come on here thinking all kinds of crazy things about their stuff? Then get mad when they hear the truth. I highly suspect Hopi artist Dawn Lucas would be frustrated that her jewelry is being COMPLETELY misrepresented. And then people get so used to a bargain they complain about the prices Native American artists need to charge for their work. I like a bargain too, but I want it truthfully represented, and I am more than happy to pay up for something I buy from an artist; yes, it may keep me from buying as much, because I have to pay more, but so be it. Other than that I only buy from stores I trust. However, I am sure in Europe your options are more limited, and you are educating yourself.
Also, buyer might not be so happy if they find out they’ve been sold a bill of goods. And yes, maybe it’s on the buyer for not digging in, but when I go to any other store I expect them to tell me the truth about their products.
It will not apologize for being p**sed about this. There. That’s my vent for the day.
Fully support your vent.
Yes, here we have very, very rare chances for beautiful Native American art, so that was the reason only to accept the behavior of the seller. The buyers will mostly never find out if they bought the “cat in the pouch”. Maybe next generation will, when trying to sell off. Maybe not. Maybe that situation is an advantage for buyers that are really interested. 99% of buyers avoid self-study, also due to lack of time, don’t trust the sellers and will never buy the cool stuff. Could be fake. That’s is the only reason I can think of why my amazing precious prey was available for purchase even after weeks of being online.
I took the once in a lifetime chance, and try to understand what cool pieces I bought, and to be fair also try to contribute to the discussions. Ordered 7, got 8, will return 2
And you got some beautiful stuff! That belt, wow. I look back at some of the things I bought years ago out west in stores that have since closed, and I really got some good bargains too. Definitely pays to do your homework!
I’ve mentioned it here before, but one of my nephews is a federal agent, and worked on the tail end of a very large bust of a fake Native American jewelry being sold in the southwest, so I’m extra cautious.
I’m glad you joined the site. And you will learn a lot the more you read. What part of Europe are you from, if you don’t mind me asking We have some other Europeans on here.
Oh we need such laws here in the EU too. On the other hand, that would increase prices as sellers would be forced to study what they sell. You have to be a chef to sell food here in Germany but you can sell art without any education.
And, different aspect, I guess some northern countries of the EU have not really applied import taxes in the past century, some not even today, often. So things were really cheap in the US at that time, no taxes here, so sellers can make good money nowadays. New imports will be really expensive.
My family was mostly German descent, although I know little about it. My hubby’s family is mostly French. Although most all of them came here many generations ago. I tease my husband cause apparently my side came here to escape religious persecution from his side
When I was shopping in ABQ for jewelry, my above mentioned nephew was very concerned I’d get fake stuff. I was like, "Z, I know what I’m doing, trust me (his nickname is Z)
No, that ring is not made by Hopi artist Dawn Lucas. She works in typical Hopi silver overlay like my ring. It may be made by another (unknown to me) artist that also uses the hallmark DL, so I don’t know if it’s a fake (meaning the maker or seller’s intent was to mislead) or just wrongly attributed.
Generally I never trust eBay and Etsy to get things right on Native American jewelry, and if you notice most of the stuff attributed to her online is from those two places. There are a few things I saw online that are her work, but most everything is completely incorrect. If you know what Hopi jewelry looks like, then it’s easy to see this. I don’t know if it’s deliberate; I assume most of it comes from sellers not doing their homework on Hopi jewelry. I have a book on Hopi silversmithing and hallmarks with her mark.
I trust my ring as hers partly because she is listed in my book, and because I bought it from the very highly regarded Eiteljorg Native American and Western Art Museum in Indianapolis (and because I am very familiar with this type of jewelry). I’m sorry that you were misled. Your ring is still pretty, just not made by a Hopi artist. Here is a link from a trustworthy source with some excellent information.
I don’t know why Amerindian has it with a ?, when all they had to do is look it up it the book they have listed as a reference. Maybe because they are slightly different, but it sure looks like mine…
This is awfu!! None of this stuff is Native American made let alone by a respected NA silversmith like Rodney Coriz. Do these sellers just pull prominent NA artists’ names out-of-the air to slap onto their products for sale? Arrggghhh. I just can’t give these kinds of sellers/dealers the benefit of the doubt.
Apparently they’re not just pulling super well-known artists’ names to do this to, since they’re doing it to Hopi Dawn Lucas. And it’s got to be horribly frustrating no matter what, but if you aren’t very well known can you imagine trying to sell your stuff when mostly what people see is the cheap imitations?
And now we see the result, since a new forum member has posted on this thread a ring they purchased falsely attributed to Dawn Lucas.
Nope. I am not cutting any slack for these weaselly sellers.
We have some other Europeans on here.
