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tline3open  old pawn? letter opener

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Author Topic:   old pawn? letter opener
vathek

Posts: 966
Registered: Jun 99

iconnumber posted 01-19-2006 02:24 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for vathek     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
This 6.25" letter opener is unsigned and obviously hand made. The use of the swastika may point to prewar Navajo, but no info on the web.

Can anyone shed any light?

Thanks.

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tmockait

Posts: 963
Registered: Jul 2004

iconnumber posted 01-19-2006 05:39 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for tmockait     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
The swastika was a a common motif prior to its appropriation by the Nazi's, so alone it does signify that your piece is Navajo. It was a Christian symbol found on Ethiopian churches and also decoration in South Asia, where I have heard of it being used a border on the hem of a garment.

Although none of the motifs on your opener would appear to be Germanic, the positioning of the single swastika is right where it often appeared on Nazi daggers. While it is illegal to sell such items in Western Europe, many can be found in Eastern Europe (also many fakes). I have no interest in such items, but I have seen many in open air markets, antique stores etc. I am not suggesting this piece is even German, just sharing background information.

Anyway, I find this item rather puzzling, so I look forward to hearing what others think. Can you say more about where you got it, what the seller told you about it, etc.? Also, why do you think it is coin silver?

Tom

[This message has been edited by tmockait (edited 01-19-2006).]

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vathek

Posts: 966
Registered: Jun 99

iconnumber posted 01-19-2006 06:08 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for vathek     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
tmockait: it's interesting to do a search on the history of the swastika prior to the third reich's use of it. Believe it or not, it used to be a good luck symbol.

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Paul Lemieux

Posts: 1792
Registered: Apr 2000

iconnumber posted 01-19-2006 07:24 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Paul Lemieux     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
The swastika appears very frequently on Navajo silver items, especially on the "Fred Harvey" style tourist trade pieces. Bracelets seem to be the most common tourist trade items, but makers produced a wide variety of objects. Many of these--such as letter openers, salad sets, salt cellars, etc.--are not traditional Navajo forms at all, and were made only with a view to entice tourists.

Generally, each of these pieces was stamped with one or more (often many) traditional Navajo symbols. There really isn't much meaning behind the actual placement of the symbols on this kind of work. The idea on tourist trade items was mainly to signify their Navajo-ness in general by use of instantly recognizable symbolism--as opposed to an arrangement that possessed a deeper meaning. In other words, the prominent location of the swastika on your item means that the maker just happened to decide on that symbol and place it where he did. Your item has nothing to do with Nazism.

Although your picture is currently not loading, I am certain it is a circa 1920s-30s Navajo letter opener made by hand (as the earlier souvenir pieces were) for the tourist trade.

The swastika also appears on many souvenir spoons from turn of the century, usually in conjunction with four-leaf clovers, horseshoes, and the phrase "Good Luck." I seem to recall that, in Navajo symbolism, the swastika is a stylized depiction of rolling logs.

Of course, after the swastika became associated with Nazism, its popularity and use on Navajo items died. Therefore, a swastika on a Navajo item generally dates it to no later than the 30s.

Although I have yet to verify this, I have heard that the Nazis' swastika was a mirror image of the traditional swastika symbol.

If possible, please update the link so we can see your picture.

[This message has been edited by Paul Lemieux (edited 01-19-2006).]

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Richard Kurtzman
Moderator

Posts: 768
Registered: Aug 2000

iconnumber posted 01-19-2006 09:27 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Richard Kurtzman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
The swastika is an archetype (as used by Jung regarding the collective unconscious)that can be found in nearly every culture going back thousands of years.

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ahwt

Posts: 2334
Registered: Mar 2003

iconnumber posted 01-20-2006 05:37 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for ahwt     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Is that kind of like a doodle?

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Paul Lemieux

Posts: 1792
Registered: Apr 2000

iconnumber posted 01-20-2006 06:57 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Paul Lemieux     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Thanks for posting the picture. Definitely Navajo circa 1925-35.

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Kimo

Posts: 1627
Registered: Mar 2003

iconnumber posted 01-31-2006 02:54 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Kimo     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
The swastika was used by many different native american tribes - not just the Navaho. Examples include the Apache and Hopi. It was also the used by the U.S. Army in World War I if you can imagine that. It was the insignia of the 45th Infantry Regiment. Soldiers in this regiment wore shoulder patches with a large yellow swastika on a red diamond shaped background to identify them as being with the 45th. When WW II came along they changed their insignia to a large yellow thunderbird on a red diamond background.

I agree that the most likely origin of the letter opener is it being either a Navaho or Hopi made tourist trinket. As it is rather crudely made, the only date that is relatively certain is that it should be pre-1940 since that was the year the Navaho, Hopi and some other tribes held a ceremony to formally give up their sacred symbol. That does not mean absolutely it is pre-1940 since I have seen the swastika used occasionaly on tourist trinkets that are more recent, though I am not sure they are ones made in the U.S. or as part of the big american indian artifact reproduction industry that is thriving in Southeast Asia.

[This message has been edited by Kimo (edited 02-02-2006).]

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tmockait

Posts: 963
Registered: Jul 2004

iconnumber posted 01-31-2006 06:58 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for tmockait     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Yes, the Nazis did ruin a good symbol - not the greatest of their many crimes. It is intriqguing though that the symbol is so common across the world in cultures that could not have influeneced one another.

Tom

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