Darryl Becenti is an accomplished Navajo silversmith who is particularly good at combining various stamps to produce complex, evocative stampwork designs. When setting turquoise in his jewelry, he always uses fine, natural stones.

We commissioned a group of bracelets from Darryl; all to be made with heavyweight 12 gauge Sterling, to be deep-stamped with no two alike in design. When pounding a cuff like this, the silversmith begins by stamping the center equatorial band of motifs first. This provides the reference for the symmetry of the ensuing stamped horizontal bands. The other thing this yields is spread, or the widening of the cuff by virtue of compacting the silver with stamped designs; the silver spreads out infinitesimally with each hammer strike. A heavily and deeply stamped cuff made from 12 gauge Sterling will usually spread 1/16" to 3/16" in width; a three--quarters inch width band will spread by 1/16", while a two-inch wide band will spread an addidional 3/16" through stamping. Because the stampwork is applied first to the equatorial center of the cuff and then to the radiating bands moving outwards towards the edges of the cuff, almost all of the spread will occur in width, virtually none in length. But, remember, all of this stampwork is applied to the silver when it is a flat strip of sheet silver. Once the stampwork is completed, the bracelet must be bent to shape for wearing. This process is achieved using an iron bar (three or four feet in length and about 1 1/2" in diameter) which assures roundness in shaping and a rawhide mallet to pound the erstwhile flat band of Sterling to an oval shape for wearing. As the flat band is repeatedly pounded around the iron bar to form the arc of its shape, the inside surface of the band is compressed with the bending of the band. By the time the bracelet is hammered into a wearable shape, the length of the strip of silver (measured around the inside of the cuff) has contracted by about 1/8". This cuff began as a 12 gauge Sterling strip which measured 7 inches in length by 1 1/4" in width. But since this cuff was also shaped to convexity and measuring its size must be done along the edges of the cuff. The terminal to terminal measurement (as measured along its edges) is 6 1/2 ".

Hallmarked with a capital "D" over an arrow in flight and stamped "Sterling" inside.

Uniform width of cuff: 1 3/8"

Terminal to terminal: 6 1/2"           Gap: 1 1/2"

Total inside circumference (including gap): 8"