And while it is a flourishing marketplace, a Southwest souk of sorts, filled with exciting and unique finds, on Sundays Tubac resembles somewhat of a ghost town, and after 3p.m. consider yourself lucky if you find a store open or a restaurant serving.
I got lucky.
I stumbled across the Old Presidio Traders, and was greeted by Garry Hembree the store's proprietor of 25 years.
Old Presidio Traders sells incredible Indian jewelry and
Navajo sandpaintings and other artwork. But Old Presidio's real specialty is "dead pawn" jewelry.
Dead pawn jewelry refers to jewelry that Indians pawned to local pawnshops, which were used as collateral for loans.
If the loan wasn't paid by the date agreed upon, the contract became "dead" and the jewelry was put up for sale.
The unique and valuable aspect of dead pawn jewelry is that they are typically family heirlooms and one-of-a-kind pieces that can't be replicated or reproduced.
Garry's store has three large cases of dead pawn jewelry that range from necklaces to rings, to bolos and cuffs. The majority though are sandcast cuffs.
Most of the dead pawn pieces are hallmarked-- inscribed with the artist's name and tribe, and sometimes a census number.
I fell in love with Garry's collection of dead pawn sandcast cuffs so
much that I couldn't leave without a nice purchase. My piece (photographed on the right), was created by Ansel M Wallace,
an Indian artist of the Zuni Tribe, whose census # is B1317.
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