Navajo Blankets & Rugs
The Beginning of Navajo Weaving
The Navajo came to the Southwest somewhere between 700 and 900 years ago, from the Athabaskan group far to the north. In great contrast to the Pueblo people, which have been relatively sedentary in the Southwest for over a 1000 years, the Navajo are much more nomadic. It’s this nomadic trait that makes them so well prepared to not just adjust, but to thrive wherever they go. They were taught how to weave by the adjacent Pueblos, as early as the 17th century and perhaps earlier. The Spanish arrived in the 1500s bringing the first sheep with them, and these sheep would forever change the basis for Southwest weaving. Before the sheep arrived, the blankets were made out of hand spun cotton or yucca fibers. While there is evidence of prehistoric Pueblo weaving blankets, there has never been found a Navajo blanket early enough to be all made from cotton.
The Navajo quickly became excellent weavers and this relatively new commodity helped them to thrive. By the early 1800’s and perhaps the later 1700s, Navajo blankets became an object of desire by tribes as far away as the Plains. The blanket as a trading resource helped to bring many horses to the Navajo lands and having horses greatly advanced their ability to grow in other areas. By the middle of the 19th century, white Euro/American soldiers and explorers came into the Southwest before, during and after the Civil War. By now the Navajo were infamous for their weavings and soldiers would bring home to the East Coast some of the earliest documented examples. To this day, Navajo weaving is a success story moving forward with creative energy from men and women with new ideas and new depths of design and fineness.
The Classic Era of Navajo Weaving
By around 1800 (some say 1820) and lasting till around 1870, Navajo weaving was at its height of creativity and this period is called the Classic Era. By this time, the Pueblo manta had evolved, for the Navajo, into a two part dress for women. These dress panels, called Biil by the Navajo, were much like a manta cut in half. The earliest ones come from Canyon del Muerto (Massacre Cave) and date to 1805 based on the history of the slaughter of this group of Navajo.
Navajo Chief’s First Phase Blanket
For the men and women, the Pueblo manta evolved into the Chief’s Blanket (a misnomer created by white men) which is essentially a large Pueblo manta woven of wool bands alternating between natural brown and white sheep yarns. Early on, likely early 17th century, indigo dye was introduced and worked into these large mantas. This was the creation of the First Phase blanket. This first phase has solid bands of color, typically white, brown and indigo, that transverse the entire blanket. Many people know of the First Phase blanket because of the segment on the Antiques Roadshow.
By the late 17th century, unravelled red yarns from bayeta, dyed with cochineal or lac, were added as very fine or thin bands amongst the brown, white and indigo. A Navajo first phase with red holds the record for the most ever paid, in a public setting, by way of John Moran’s Auction house in California. That blanket sold for 1.8 million. Since then, that same blanket has been sold, and while I do not know what it went for, I would estimate it sold somewhere between $2 million and $2.5 million.
Navajo Second Phase and Third Phase Blanket
The Navajo second phase chief’s blanket occurs when the solid bands of color in the first phase are broken up into different colors, typically with the addition of unravelled red yarns from bayeta and indigo yarns. There is not yet any trespassing out of the bands into a broader design – here the bands remain as they are, they are now broken up into different colors.
The third phase chief’s blanket is when the design breaks out of the bands and trespasses into the white background (or white bands). This is most typically done with stepped diamonds expanding outward into the blanket. The Navajo chief’s blanket goes further than this, into what are called forth phase and variants, which all point towards the diamond and patterning taking over the space of the simple bands, reducing the banding system to the point that you barely have any bands left.
The Navajo Serape
The Navajo serape is more influenced by the Mexican Saltillo than it was by early Pueblo weaving. Most rare of all are the Navajo ponchos, serapes with a slit in the center to allow for the blanket to drop down over the head, like a Saltillo. A Navajo serape is essentially a blanket where the warps are longer than the wefts, which is the opposite with a manta, or chief’s blanket, were the weft is longer than the warp.
The serape than covers all sorts of other blankets, from child’s blankets to saddle blankets and shoulder blankets. The classic era Navajo serape is one of the rarest of the Navajo blankets. It’s not easy to define these, other than they are extrapolations of the Saltillo typically with stepped diamonds and stepped zig zag lines that give the blanket an intense level of energy. I have an early Navajo serape in my collection, but this one is unusual since it has a white background. Most serapes have a red backgrounds.
My most favorite of the serapes is the simple Moki serapes, which are alternating bands of natural brown with indigo blue, often spaced with minimal amounts of white yarn bands. These blankets have an origin more akin to the Pueblos, as they are not derivations of the Saltillo, but of Pueblo making. Moki is a derogatory word for a Hopi person, as they were historically seen often wearing these finely woven, finely banded blankets.
The Late Classic Era in Navajo Weaving
The late classic era is where the designs begin to get more complex and the stepped treatment as an edge shifts to other treatments, such as feathering. This is also were we see synthetic dyes starting to come in, which is generally thought to be around 1868. Some scholars say earlier than this date, and some say later. Synthetic dyes were discovered in Europe in the late 1850s, and when they came over to North America would occur over a broad period of time. The Late Classic era generally starts around 1870 and goes till we come to the transitional era where weaving shifts from blankets to rugs.
The Trading Post Era
The later part of the 19th century brought machine milled blankets to the Southwest, such as Beacon, Pendleton, and Hudson Bay and these blankets began to take over the need for hand woven Navajo blankets. This period coincided with the US government taking over the Native tribes and moving them into reservations. With the loss of the need for Navajo blankets, Euro/American entrepreneurs moved into the area and created trading posts along with the coming railroads. The confluence of tourists coming West coupled with a loss of way of life for the Natives moving onto reservations was instrumental in creating the trading post as a work place for Navajos to continue creating their weavings. With blankets no longer needed, they transitioned to making rugs to sell to the railroad tourists.
There is a transitional period where we see weaving move from blanket to rug and this lasts for about 20-30 years from 1880 to 1910. By 1910 fine rugs were being woven, many by the elders that originally made blankets. These are particularly fine rugs and can hold as much value if not more than the earlier blankets woven before 1890.
Transition to Rugs
The period after 1910 shows much growth for weaving on the Navajo reservation. The creation of specific types of Navajo weaving, mostly as rugs, occurred all over the reservation resulting in many regional styles: Two Grey Hills, Ganado, Tec Nos Pos, Crystal, Chinle, Klagetoh to name the main ones. These original design styles created continued interest in Navajo weaving as evident by the large number of weavings created after 1925 into the rest of the 20th century.
Contemporary Navajo rug weaving continues in force today, with many young weavers creating highly prized and technical achievements rivaling the earliest weavers. The blend of their talent with a modern aesthetic has created many award winning creations.
Valuation of Navajo Weavings
My main interests in Navajo weavings are in the earliest ones I can find. The problem with this is the early ones are so expensive. The only way I have been able to get an early weaving is to get one that is in compromised condition, meaning holes, side and end wear. That being said, I have found and purchased Navajo weavings over the last 30 years of my collecting all the way up to the WW II era, or around 1940. The area of Navajo weaving is so broad that it’s difficult to summarize their value, but I will do my best to set some of the value standards for Navajo blankets and rugs as I see them.
The Value of a Classic Era Navajo Blanket
The number of these classic blankets is very limited and as a result, these are the most expensive blankets, likely in the whole world. The highest documented price paid was $1.8 million for a well pedigreed first phase chief’s blanket. An early classic to classic blanket will typically run from $12,000 up to over $1 million. The lower end is about design patterns, restoration and current condition. I would estimate the average price paid for this period would be around $45,000. A number of classic blankets are valued well above $100,000, but the number of these is very limited. There are enough examples of less expensive classic blankets to bring the average down to the $45,000 number. This is a “feel” more than an hours long computation of sales for classic blankets.
Late Classic Navajo Blanket Values
Late classic blankets, were we begin to see the introduction of synthetic dyes, but were indigo dyes are still used can vary from $1500 to $125,000. The higher end will have no synthetic dyes, but the design features will no longer be that of the classic era. Here we have designs more broadly departing from the classic look entering into new designs with generally more void areas overall. The lower end is where the blanket has indigo blue in it, but the reds are all synthetic and the design is weak or the condition is average or poor. A mid range for a good, and attractive late classic is around $15,000. Here there is indigo blue, at least some synthetic reds, and a pleasant design that brings interest from buyers.
Transitional Era Navajo Blanket Values
This is the period where the Navajo stops making blankets and start selling rugs to the tourists at the railroad stations. Here we can still see a blanket, but there will no longer be any cochineal or lac dyes and there will likely not be any indigo dyes. Bordering of the design begins here, at first only at the top and bottom, then, all the way around for a rug. Here we begin to see a lot more colors coming from the availability of synthetic dyes, like orange, purple, yellow, gold, green, steel blue, etc.
Values for transitional weavings might vary from $500 to $15,000. The lower end would be a coarser weaving in fair condition without any outstanding design impressions. The higher end would have a finer weave with fine, worsted wool, the designs would be pleasant and maybe powerful, and the condition very good. A mid range for a transitional blanket would be around $4500. This blanket would be in good condition, have a design of merit and good quality wool.
Early Navajo Rug Values
The first Navajo rugs, or those being made at the end of the 19th century and into the first 20 years of the 20th century, can hold good value if they are in great condition. Many of the older weavers for these early rugs wove classic blankets in their younger years, so they are very experienced and make very fine rugs. Not all early rugs are like this, many are coarse, but most now have borders going all the way around them. The most famous early Navajo rugs come out of the Two Grey Hills region of weaving. Another area of fine craftsmanship would be the Tec Nos Pos region. These all tend to be finely woven with very pleasing patterns. These high end, earlier rugs can be valued from $2500 upwards of $40,000 for the best of kind. I would estimate the average value of a good, well woven, early Navajo rug would be around $6500.
The weaving of rugs really increases into the 20th century and multiple varieties begin to take shape such as Ganado, Hubble, Crystal, Chinle to name the more common ones. Many of these are coming out of the trading posts and the individuals running the posts, typically white men, have a lot to say in terms of what the Navajos weave. These weavings generally date from the early 20th century into the 1930s up to WW II. The values for these weavings can be all over the place, ranging from $250 to $12,000. A mid range for the period between 1920 and 1940 would be somewhere around $1200.
There are a small group of famous weavers, most being from Two Grey Hills, that weave exceptionally fine rugs. The most famous of them all is Daisy Taugelchee and her weavings today can be valued above $100,000. Other weavers such as Blind Man’s Wife, also of the Two Grey Hills group, can also bring impressive values, well over $15,000.
Values of Modern Navajo Weavings and Rugs
The modern times have created a large handful of fine and innovative Navajo weavers. Most of them weave on their own path, while holding on to older weaving ideas, they evolve these qualities into new forms. Other weavers like to stay with tradition and work to better understand the way the ancient weavers worked. One example of the contemporary perspective is from the weaver Melissa Cody, a Navajo weaver. I saw an exhibit of her work at MOMA PS1 and was curious about the cost of one. The one I inquired about was $75,000. So, the world of weaving continues and evolves. My world is mostly entrenched in the old material, but the longer I live, the more I get excited about some of the contemporary weavings.
Values, again, are all over the map. The range here would be between $250 and $75,000. Certainly one can find a wonderful, modern, Navajo rug at a very decent price, especially if you keep up with Ebay or Live Auctioneers. These sites have so many weavings on the market that its overwhelming. Figure out what you like and start digging in. There’s nothing like buying something to study and start you on the path of becoming a knowledgable individual on Navajo weaving. Good luck!
