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An exceptionally well-crafted and extremely beautiful McKee Platero Navajo silver and gold-lipped mother of pearl oyster shell bracelet, 1998
McKee Platero (b.1957) exists on a completely different plane than virtually every other Navajo silversmith.
He is possessed of vastly superior abilities compared to those of mere mortals and he somehow carries with him the accumulated knowledge and wisdom of the ages. In our view, Platero is very probably the finest Navajo Silversmith
who ever lived; he is certainly in the top four along with Kenneth Begay (1913-1977), Begay’s teacher, Fred Peshlakai (1896-1974) and Peshlakai’s teacher, the legendary 19th Century master smith, “Slender, Maker-of-Silver”.
This fantastic bracelet has had only two devoted and knowledgable owners in its 26 year lifetime which largely accounts for its still remarkable, almost like-new condition. It was originally purchased brand new from McKee Platero’s longtime Santa Fe dealer, Teal McKibben (1928-2006), at her Canyon Road gallery, “La Bodega”, by its first owner in August of 1998 very soon after it was made. It remained in this lady’s private collection for the next 18 years until we purchased
it from her in 2016. Ironically, we had just missed being its original owner ourselves by only a day or two at Teal’s gallery back when it was originally there.
McKee Platero, left, and Teal McKibben, right, at her La Bodega Gallery, Santa Fe, c. 1998
This bracelet was made during a several year time period in the mid-to-late 1990’s when Platero created a small
suite of unique and wonderful pieces featuring this beautiful, precious gold-lipped mother of pearl oyster shell. The beautifully cut, oval-shped, iridescent shell is set in a gorgeously-fashioned heavy silver serrated bezel surrounded
by twisted-silver wire and further embellished with ten large, round applied-silver “Raindrops”. The bezel platform
sits atop the bracelet’s perfectly-crafted quadruple split-chiseled heavy silver shank which is decorated with beautiful, deep stampwork in the form of stylized “insect” designs. All in all, this is an extremely complex and difficult design to achieve and Platero pulls it off perfectly here. The bracelets from this late 1990‘s to early 2000‘s time period are some of the most beautifully-fashioned and intense pieces that Platero has ever done with great presence and real "heft".
“Insects are the true owners of the world. They were the first to arrive.
Man was the last to arrive. We are still of the earth and we have to take care of
the natural world. We must return to exalting the earth.”
-McKee Platero
The bracelet measures 1 1/2” in width at its widest center point and it tapers down to 5/8” in width at the terminal ends.
The bracelet’s inner circumference end-to-end is 6 1/4” with a 1 1/16” gap between the terminals for a total interior circumference of 7 5/16”. The bracelet’s silver shank is approximately 1/8” in thickness and the bracelet weighs an extremely substantial 105 grams or 3 3/4 ounces yet it sits perfectly and comfortably on the wrist. The bracelet is properly signed on the interior with McKee Platero’s customary hallmark of a row of three parallel stamped round dots, and, as previously mentioned, it is in remarkably excellent original condition, almost in a time warp of sorts. It certainly does not look its 26 years of age, for all intents and purposes it looks as if it could have been made last week. It has rightfully been treasured and very well taken care of its entire life.
This bracelet is a splendid, perfectly-crafted classic piece from the unique artistic mind and incomparably skilled hands
of one of the all-time great masters of Navajo jewelry. We can say from our considerable personal experience with this bracelet that it is a privilege and a source of great pride to be able to own this piece.
Price available upon request
McKee Platero quote excerpted from “Southwestern Indian Jewelry, Creating New Traditions” by Dexter Cirillo, Rizzoli, NY, 2008, pp.37. © 2008 by Dexter Cirillo.
