Rare Indian Chieftain Brooch

NWS 4-1382

~ Isn't he gorgeous! This Indian brooch is over seventy years old, a relic from a simpler time, the 1930's, when jewelry had taken on a new purpose. It wasn't so much about about beauty or fashion as it was about lifting our American spirits. The devastating depression, Hitler's rise to power, the Grapes of Wrath... The harder times became, the more jewelry became light-hearted and whimsical. This was also the time that the Indian head nickel was in circulation (1913-1938).

~ Our little Indian is made of a base metal that has been heavily plated with rhodium. His face and neck have been hand painted with a bronze metallic enamel. His eyes and lips are in red enamel, and his long hair is black. Much of the enamel has worn off his face in the high spots revealing the rhodium beneath, but this has only served to make him look like he's wearing silver "war paint".

~ He wears a spectacular feather headdress. A stripped yellow and red band across his forehead is tied at the side of his head, with a faceted faux diamond depicting the knot.  Several red and yellow feathers dangle down from the knot.

~ Twelve more red and yellow feathers comprise the full headdress that fans out behind. Notice how the designer made the bottom two feathers cross each other for a touch of realness.

~ His bodice is covered in pavé-set faux diamonds and his sleeve has a red enameled arm band.

~ This magnificent brooch measures 1.5" wide and 1.75" high.

The Native face on the U.S. "buffalo" or "Indian Head" nickel, minted from 1913 to 1938, is a composite of three men from three Tribes. The designer was James Earle Fraser. He used Iron Tail, Two Moons and Big Tree as models for the composite likeness that appeared on the obverse or "heads" side of the coin. On the reverse side Fraser depicted an American bison, old Black Diamond, then living in Central Park Zoo in New York City. Iron Tail (Sinte Maza) was an Oglala who lived ca. 1850 to 1916. He fought under Sitting Bull at the Battle of the Little Big Horn in 1876. Two Moons (Ishi'eyo) was a Northern Cheyenne who lived from 1847 to 1917. He, too, fought at the Battle of the Little Big Horn. Big Tree was a Seneca who, in the 1920's, acted in many silent movies, including "The Frontiersman".

c. 1930, restored as follows: all of the old stones had crashed, so I removed them and put in all new crystals. Nothing else has been touched. The enamel is 100% original. The back is bright and clean. He is rare, and he looks fabulous!

Price =  $245.00 b 4