The Squash Blossom Necklace: Meaning, History & How to Buy

What a Squash Blossom Necklace Is

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A classic squash blossom necklace has three parts, each made by hand. Learn to see them separately and you will never look at one the same way again.

A Short History: From Coin Silver to Statement Piece

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Navajo (Diné) smiths took up silverwork in the second half of the 1800s, learning the craft from Mexican plateros and quickly making it their own. The earliest squash blossom necklaces were hammered from melted coin silver — heavy, plain, and entirely handmade, from the ingot to the last bead. Turquoise came later: as trading posts spread across the region around the turn of the century, stones from Southwestern mines began appearing on najas and blossoms, and the form most people picture today — silver and blue together — took shape.

The design never belonged to one pair of hands. Zuni smiths developed their own versions set with rows of small matched stones in cluster and petit point work, while Navajo makers tended toward heavier silver and larger individual stones. By the 1970s, when Native American jewelry swept into American fashion, the squash blossom necklace had become its emblem — which is why so many fine vintage pieces on the market today date from that era. And it remains a living tradition: contemporary artists are still making squash blossoms, some as faithful to the old forms as anything from a century ago, some entirely new.

The Naja — and What the Necklace Really Means

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Ask what a squash blossom necklace “means” and you will hear plenty of invented legend. The documented story is better. The naja’s crescent traveled a remarkably long road to the Southwest: a protective ornament in the Moorish world, worn on horse bridles to turn away the evil eye, it crossed into Spain, then to the Americas on the headstalls of Spanish horses, where Plains and Southwestern peoples adopted the form. Navajo smiths gave it its name — naja is the Navajo word for the crescent shape — and made it the centerpiece of their finest silverwork.

The blossom beads carry a parallel story. They are most often read as the flower of the squash plant, one of the staple crops of the Southwest, though many scholars trace the silver form itself to the pomegranate ornaments worn on clothing in Spain and Mexico. Both readings are part of the necklace’s history of trade, exchange, and Native artists transforming what passed through their hands into something unmistakably their own.

How to Evaluate One: Weight, Silver, Stones

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A squash blossom necklace is usually the largest silver purchase a collector makes, and the good news is that quality is something you can see and feel. When one comes out of the case, check five things:

• Weight. Pick it up first. Heavy-gauge silver and bench-made beads have real heft — many full-size pieces weigh well over a hundred grams — while thin, machine-stamped reproductions feel hollow and light for their size. Weight alone is not proof, but it is the fastest first read.
• The beads. Handmade beads show a fine solder seam and slight, pleasing variation from bead to bead. Perfectly uniform, seamless beads usually mean machine work.
• The silver. Authentic pieces are sterling or, on early examples, coin silver; cheap reproductions are often nickel alloy. A hallmark or “sterling” stamp is reassuring — but note that many genuine older pieces were never signed, so an unmarked necklace deserves examination, not automatic suspicion.
• The stones. Ask whether the turquoise is natural or stabilized — an honest dealer discloses this without being pressed — and where it came from. Matched rows of good stones are a mark of a fine piece; plastic-feeling “block” and dyed imitation stones are the tell of a fake. Our guide to telling real turquoise from fake covers the checks in detail.
• Condition. On vintage pieces, look at how the necklace is strung (older pieces ride on foxtail wire), whether stones sit tight in their bezels, and how old repairs were done. None of these should scare you off a good piece — restringing and stone-tightening are routine work at our bench in the gallery.

How to Buy a Squash Blossom Necklace

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First, try it on — this is not a piece to buy from a photograph if you can help it. Lengths and weights vary widely: a necklace that sits at the sternum on one person rides differently on another, and a heavy vintage piece wears very differently across an evening than a lighter contemporary one. In the gallery we will happily pull several so you can feel the difference; our cases hold squash blossoms alongside the rest of our necklaces, from classic turquoise to vintage pieces in the Old Pawn case.

Second, decide what era you want. A contemporary squash blossom by a named artist comes to you new, sized to modern wear, with the maker and mine on the tag. A vintage or old pawn piece carries decades of history and the character of old silver — and calls for a closer look at condition. Neither is the “right” answer; they are different pleasures.

Third, ask the dealer the questions any honest one welcomes: Who made it, or what can you tell me about its age? Where is the turquoise from? Is it natural or stabilized? Will you put that on the receipt? Genuine handmade squash blossoms generally start in the hundreds of dollars and run into the thousands for heavy vintage examples with fine stones — so a bargain-priced “genuine” squash blossom is answering its own question. For the full checklist — hallmarks, the Indian Arts and Crafts Act, and what a proper receipt says — see our guide to buying authentic Native American jewelry and our Scottsdale turquoise guide — both part of The Turquoise Guide series.