RAYMOND YAZZIE'S Blessings cuff bracelet  is composed of 18 karat gold and approximately 485 separate stones.

Native American jewelry may not be sacred per se, but the artisans see it as a sacred expression of their lives and culture. This much is apparent in their designs, the way they handle their materials, the reverence they feel for beautifully crafted objects. Not surprisingly, the most avid collectors of Southwest Native American jewelry have been Native Americans themselves. In recent decades, however, the market for this jewelry, both traditional and contemporary, has grown exponentially. In 2003, Native Peoples magazine estimated that the Indian jewelry market generates $500 million each year. A spectacular exhibition, Totems to Turquoise, at New York’s American Museum of Natural History (through July 10) is now burnishing appreciation for this jewelry’s artistry. It celebrates the work of tribes from the Northwest and Southwest.

Since antiquity, the Pueblo peoples of the Southwest have adorned themselves with pendants, bracelets, rings, earrings and hair ornaments, often crafted from beads and mosaics made of wood, turquoise and shells. Much of the jewelry we recognize today as Southwest Native American developed during the second half of the 19th century, after the Navajo learned silversmithing from the Mexicans. Their new jewelry drew on a variety of influences. The blossom motif in the traditional Navajo squash blossom necklace was a variant on the stylized silver pomegranate that adorned Mexican men’s clothing. Native necklaces of silver beads and multiple crosses were interpretations of rosaries (although the crosses also symbolized the dragonfly, a sacred creature to the Pueblo). The sterling silver medallions of the Navajos’ concha belts derived from the round and oval plaques of German silver that they saw Plains tribes wearing in their hair.