Bidspirit auction | Victor Coochwytewa Hopi Large Silver

Victor Coochwytewa Hopi Large Silver Overlay Cuff - Marked on the interior of the cuff.    Size: 6 3/4” Circumference w/ 1” Opening  Width: 2”  Total Weight: 85.6g    Condition: Light surface scratches throughout the cuff. Please see images for details.    Artist Bio: Victor Coochwytewa did as much as anyone to set the standard for Hopi overlay, the technique in which a design is cut through one sheet of silver and soldered onto a second, so the pattern stands out in bright silver against a darkened ground. Born in 1922 at Shungopavi on Second Mesa, he began making jewelry in 1940 alongside Paul Saufkie. After serving in the South Pacific in World War II, where he earned a Purple Heart, he came home in 1946 and became one of the first students in the silversmithing classes Saufkie and Fred Kabotie organized for Hopi veterans under the G.I. Bill. His lasting contribution was technical. He is credited as the first Hopi smith to texture the base plate beneath the overlay, a change in finish the whole tradition adopted and still follows. In the 1970s he was among the first Hopi artists to work overlay in 14k gold, and he was later named an Arizona Indian Living Treasure. Through it all he called himself a farmer first, tended his corn and remained a religious leader at Hopi until his death in 2011. This large cuff shows the overlay method he helped define.