Weight 13.44g

Length 1-5/8" round

BLBE

HOPI WALTER POLELONEMA Walter Polelonema (d. 1971) was a master Zuni silversmith active from the 1920s until his passing in 1971. He was part of the 1949–1951 GI Bill class at the Hopi Silvercraft Guild, which was founded in 1949 to train Hopi students in the art of silversmithing. Early Guild pieces were stamped with both the Guild’s sun symbol and the individual silversmith’s personal hallmark, while during the late 1960s and early 1970s the Guild transitioned to using a single hallmark for all its artists. The Guild ceased operations around 2016–2017. Walter was the brother of Tyler Polelonema and the uncle of noted Hopi silversmith Raymie Namingha, who also adopted his rattlesnake rattle hallmark—Walter’s distinctive signature mark.

HOPI SILVER CRAFT GUILD After World War II, returning Hopi veterans faced few job opportunities; many young Hopi men came back from military service to find limited work on the mesas, where farming remained central but was seasonal, labor-intensive, and insufficient to support growing families in a cash-based economy, so to address this challenge and help retain cultural continuity, the Hopi Silvercraft Cooperative Guild was founded in 1949 in Shungopavi on Hopi Second Mesa by Fred Kabotie and Paul Saufkie Sr.; the Guild taught veterans silversmithing through GI Bill–funded “Veterans’ Classes,” training Hopi students in design, toolmaking, and fabrication techniques while fostering the Hopi overlay style and encouraging work that expressed Hopi identity, helping them earn a living while staying connected to their communities; early pieces from the Guild were stamped with both the Guild’s sun symbol and the individual silversmith’s personal hallmark, but during the late 1960s and early 1970s the Guild transitioned to using a single hallmark stamp for all silversmiths; the Guild provided economic stability, allowing veterans to remain on the reservation, support their families, and establish professional artistic livelihoods, and it remained active until around 2016–2017.

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