Bracelet maker help

[infoseeker1957]

Hello all. Here is a lovely wristband bracelet with hand carved hallmarks. There is also no metal purity but it seems to be sterling. The letters look like M E X which I assume is Mexico and then something else on the other end that I cannot make out. Maybe HE? Any help is appreciated re maker, time period etc. thanks.
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[ValkyrieVixen]

It looks like Hopi Overlay work but identifying the maker will be difficult. I looked in the hallmark book and didn't find anything similar.
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[admin]

The marks appear to be for Michael Gashwazra, working at Hopicrafts (Hc)

Regards, Tom

http://books.google.com/books?id=XYXiVo ... &q&f=false
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[ValkyrieVixen]

The first mark is the Hopi Enterprises mark, used by more than one artisan. The Barton Wright book shows Gashwazra's mark as a gothic print stamp, not a hand made mark but maybe it's before he started using a stamp. I couldn't find any examples of his work.
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[infoseeker1957]

Thanks a bunch. I went to the sourse referred and lo and behold, there is the hand written mark for Michael Gashwazra on page 122, just like in my bracelet.

Thanks again
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[admin]

The conjoined Hc is the Hopicrafts mark, the company was originally named Hopi Enterprises, but only for its first year or so. That change took place around 1961 shortly after the company moved from Phoenix to Kykotsmovi, AZ. It operated as Hopicrafts for a couple of decades. In the early years their silversmiths only marked with the Hc, it wasn't until years later that individual silversmiths were permitted to use their own marks in conjunction with Hc mark.

Regards, Tom
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