Collection of Handmade Navajo Tools [SOLD]

This Navajo man’s silversmithing tools were most likely pawned to the Balcomb family in the 1950s or 1960s and never reclaimed from pawn.  They have passed down in the Balcomb family and now are in the possession of one of the grandchildren.  There are 27 individual tools used in the manufacture of Navajo silver jewelry.  Many of them are stamps used in decorating jewelry.  Some of the tools were made from rattail files, from flat files and other metal objects.  They are stored in a tin box.

It is rare for a jeweler to pawn his tools that he would need when making jewelry.  It is likely that they were pawned after he passed away, and removing them from pawn was not of interest to the member who pawned them.