KIRK SMITH Navajo Dine Sterling Silver long dome oval ring vintage Size

Beautiful handmade Native American ring. Has KS Sterling hallmark on inside of ring. (#15) Kirk Smith first began working with silver at around age 7 in his grandfather’s hidden workshop, that according to Smith’s interview with Perry Null Trading, “you would not see it unless you knew it was there”. His grandfather also made jewelry and Kirk used to aid him by first learning to run the bellow to heat the charcoal that would allow his grandfather to work with the silver at high temperatures, and then eventually began to work with beads and bracelets and necklaces himself. He later used these primitive skills to craft jewelry for his uncle, who would exchange clothes and shoes for his pieces. In 1972, Kirk struck out on his own, primarily working in silver cast work, until the price of silver went up in 1974 and he went to work doing different things like working in the mine or a refinery in Galveston. He returned to jewelry making in the early 1980s when his mother got sick.