About

 

Our family has been trading with the Native American people for over 100 years! It’s a legacy we are incredibly proud of. Courtney here! My great, great grandfather was a well-known trader who was trusted in the Native American community. He traded everything from sheep to cattle to jewelry and was fluent in Navajo and Zuni.

 

In the 1970’s, my father, Jerry Elkins took the family tradition to the next level by opening our first trading post. He partnered with the talented, Richard Belin, and together they would design lines of sterling silver and genuine gemstone jewelry. My father had a vision of empowering Native American silversmiths to work from home, allowing them to make a good living whole pricing the jewelry projects themselves. The idea became a reality and we have been able to collaborate with over a thousand families all over our area.

 

As a child, I would travel to Zuni every weekend with my family to buy and trade. My dad would buy directly from Zuni families and take back to sell in our store. Now as a certified GIA gemologist and a fifth-generation jeweler, I continue this tradition and travel to Zuni every week to buy and trade in turquoise or shell. It is an honor to work with so many talented artists who create all jewelry for Chaco Canyon Trading.

 

Everyday I work closely and collaborate with our incredible team of artists like Emerson Delgarito, Jimson Belin, Gregg Yazzie, David Lopez, Mike Smith, Michael Yazzie, and Irvin Tsosie. After the silver work is done we take the pieces to our inlay team (team turquoise) and that’s what we cut rough material for each of the pieces. From baby blue campitos turquoise, to Sonoran gold, to our newest turquoise rough, Cleopatras royal web. Our turquoise is always genuine, never compressed, it is straight from the mine.

 

Making any product in the United States is often unheard of anymore. Our entire team is dedicated to making affordable, wearable art that is all made right her in the USA. Our entire team work very hard to keep the art and tradition of making jewelry Southwest jewelry, in the true American west. We rely on customers like you, who appreciate and support authentic Native American jewelry to keep this art alive and thriving. By choosing Chaco Canyon Trading, you are not only owning a piece of beautiful jewelry but also becoming part of our company’s history and legacy.

 

Thank you for being apart of our journey and for supporting Native American artists. Together, we can keep the art of jewelry making alive and flourishing right here in the American Southwest.

 

Photos of turquoise rough slabs, we cut a majority of our stones in shop so we are able to do a lot of fun, funky shapes etc. Top photo is baby blue Campitos turquoise, middle is Agave Green Turquoise, and bottom is deep blue Campitos Turquoise.