Unknown Diné (Navajo)

Native American

Pin
Date unknown

Silver and turquoise
2.25 x 2.25 x 0.75 in.
Gift of Richard A. Harrison
1991.55

• brooches - Ornamental jewelry made in a variety of forms fastened by a pin. For decorative items, similar in appearance to a brooch, but attached to a garment with a spring fastening, use "clips (jewelry)."
• floral
• jewelry
• orange
• red
• silver - Pure metallic element having symbol Ag and atomic number 47; a malleable, ductile, white metal with characteristic sheen, considered a precious metal. Silver is widely distributed throughout the world, occurring rarely as metallic silver (in Peru, Norway) but more often as silver-gold alloys and silver ore. Today silver is obtained as a byproduct in the refinement of gold, lead, copper, or zinc ores. Silver was smelted from the ore galena as early as 3800 BCE. As a pure metal, silver is second to gold in malleability and ductility, can be polished to a highly reflective surface, and used -- typically in an alloy -- in jewelry, coinage, photography, mirrors, electrical contacts, and tableware.