Effie Calavaza: Snake Set

Effie Calavaza lives in Zuni, New Mexico and has been working in silver and turquoise since the mid-1950s where she learned from her husband Juan Calavaza.  She and Juan have four daughters; Georgiana, Yatsttie, Gloria Jean Garcia, and Susie Calavaza who now help their mother make jewelry in the family style.  Since Effie’s husband passed away her hallmark is signed EFFIE C. ZUNI in 1/16th Gothic print.  Her daughters often use the same hallmark and at times it is difficult to know who actually made a particular piece. Effie, along with the help of her husband, developed their now famous motif of a silver snake twined around irregular shaped turquoise or coral nuggets in which the snake has two matched eyes of turquoise.

Their work is widely recognized as Zuni even though the techniques they have adapted are often associated with traditional Navajo jewelry in the use of rough shaped stones and stamped silver, rather than the more common Zuni work of detailed and finely inlayed pieces of matched stone, shell, or coral.