Vintage Hopi Silver Overlay Cuff By Bradley Gashwazra

Vintage Hopi overlay jewelry comes from a style that originated with the Hopi Silvercraft Guild founded in 1949. This distinctive style of jewelry which involved layering two sheets of silver with intricate cutouts on the top sheet, was developed with the idea of setting Hopi jewelry apart from other Native American jewelry styles. Even though the stye of jewelry was innovative, many of the motifs used were traditional Hopi symbols. 

This vintage Hopi silver overlay bracelet was created by Bradley Gashwazra, born in 1932, and a member of the Hopi Silvercraft Guild. It's a wonderful cuff bracelet with its geometric stepped motif over a triangle. These designs are not merely decorative, for they're steeped in symbolism related to Hopi life and spiritual practices. Often, the stepped design represents mountains or mesas and the triangle can represent stability and balance.

This lovely cuff measures 5 3/8" inside with a 1" gap. The width is 3/4". It's signed on the inside with Gashwazra's hallmark and the Kopavi hallmark. Kopavi is a shop in Sedona, Arizona, known for Hopi overlay jewelry by some of the greats like Victor Coochwytewa.