Our Road Is Long
SilverTQ, LLC (formerly KESA, LLC) has a long history (since the mid 1970’s) of going to the southwest USA region during the early Spring to purchase new authentic Native American Indian jewelry items for our upcoming season. We pick this time of year for several reasons. The Christmas selling season is over and the summer tourist season has not yet started. Many business account have not begun stocking their stores, and therefore there is a larger amount of authentic Native American Indian jewelry and crafts available to purchase. We commonly spend close to two months choosing products while we are visiting these southwest jewelry and crafts producing areas. Most businesses do not spend nearly this amount of time, if they travel at all, which some do not.
All Silver And Only Authentic
The most important policy we stress for our buying authentic Native American Indian jewelry would be for all items to be made of sterling silver, and is handcrafted by a reputable Native American Indian artist. We do not, under any circumstances, purchase imported items that are falsely made to look like true Native American Indian handcrafted jewelry and crafts. Sadly, not all sellers aspire to this same philosophy. In fact, it was the misrepresentation and fraudulent behavior of some businesses that caused us to start traveling to the southwest region to purchase directly from the artist. It was mandatory for us to assuredly guarantee authentic craftsmanship of every jewelry and craft piece we acquired.
Home Spun Creations
Most of these handcrafted items, jewelry and crafts, are produced in a cottage style industry, where the artists sell their finished merchandise and then go to the local materials supply house to purchase more silver and stones. These Native American Indian artists typically create the new items at their homes and then bring them to town to sell, or sometimes contact us to inform us they have jewelry or crafts to sell. This is essentially a “timeless” industry that has changed little over the many past decades.
There typically are few “middlemen,” just the artist directly selling their own creations. There are some Native American Indians that perform their work in designated shops, creating jewelry in more replicable styles, but the bulk of what we purchase comes from those artists who create at their homes and come to town to sell. In the past we used to travel to the Indian reservation to meet with the artists at their homes. This proved not to be a good working plan. Oftentimes, we encountered artists who had not finished their pieces, or they sold them a day or two earlier, or they were in town, etc. We spent a lot of wasted time and gas to not find much. We finally decided the best policy in most instances was to wait for the artist to travel to town when they’re ready to sell.
The Art of Buying
The most efficient way we acquire interested and well-made items with some regularity is to spend time to learn what artist is bringing in finished product, and what they have to sell. Small items such as earrings and pendants might be offered in multiples. In these instances, we then choose the items we feel are the best pieces. Larger jewelry items such as necklaces, concho belts, etc. are often brought in by the artist to sell one at a time. Being patient and taking our time to choose, we have a better probability to acquire unique pieces made with outstanding stones and excellent silver work, as sometimes that is the only time we see these items offered for sale.
Our company “mantra” has always been to honestly promote our outstanding authentic Native American Indian jewelry and craft items at a reasonable and fair price. It’s impossible to be the best if you are always the least expensive. We do firmly believe in good quality work, and just like most everything else, you do get what you pay for.