We are frequently approached by collectors asking for assistance to identify hallmarks on Native American jewelry. Sometimes the maker is easy to identify, other times the attribution is more difficult to make. Many times the marks are unattributable as they were used by Native American or Anglo craftsmen who worked during the “boom” years of the 1970s and their identification marks were not recorded. But every so often we are challenged by an obviously old hallmark that has not previously been described or seen.
Such was the case for a hallmark shared with us recently by collector Gloria Dollar. Her tourist era pin in the shape of a deer, likely made by a Pueblo silversmith, has a hallmark on the back depicting a cart. The mark was at first a mystery, but vaguely familiar. Once the “aha” moment struck we began the required investigation to attribute this unusual hallmark. The cart hallmark reminded us of the two-wheeled ox cart, or carreta that has been the logo for a Santa Fe curio store for more than a century.
It all started with a merchant named Jake Gold. Jake left New York in 1862 and joined his father Louis Gold, along with his brothers Aaron and Abe, in Santa Fe, New Mexico Territory. The Golds became successful merchants in the city concentrating on groceries and general merchandise. However in 1880 Aaron Gold opened Gold’s Provision House on the corner of San Francisco Street and Burro Alley, it not only offered groceries and provisions, it was also the first place “in town where Rare Specimens of Indian Pottery, ancient and modern” were on display. By 1883 the store was managed by Aaron’s youngest brother Jake, who acquired the business from Aaron the same year and changed the name to Gold’s Free Museum which could be found at the “Sign of Indian Cart” on San Francisco Street. By 1893 Jake renamed the business the Old Curiosity Shop, established 1862, the year he came to Santa Fe.
Jake purchased the property in October 1890 and in 1893 set about improving his place of business by nearly doubling the capacity and enlarging the main sales room. Jake became the leading dealer in Santa Fe of Indian pottery and blankets, Chimayo weavings and Mexican curios, and was referred to as “The Curio Man” in the local newspaper, he had become an important component of the territorial economy. The Santa Fe New Mexican reported on July 1, 1893, he, “has at least thirty men and women constantly employed at Chimayo, in the Navajo country and elsewhere manufacturing his supply of Indian and Mexican blankets. Also he has a dozen or so men on the road traveling all over New Mexico, Arizona and Mexico, gathering all manner of curios for his stock.” He was, perhaps, the first in a long line of curio dealers, or Indian traders as we know them today, who wove tall tales in order to entice buyers with the rarity of their goods; in 1894 journalist Henry Russell Wray wrote that, “in this shop of Jake’s you can purchase the last pair of trousers worn by Columbus, the sword De Soto wore, the hat of Cabeza de Vaca or the breastplate of silver worn by Cortez.”
But it all came crashing down in 1896 when Jake was charged with violating the Edmunds Anti-Polygamy Act, and was additionally charged with abandonment for leaving his wife Lizzie. To avoid prosecution, he fled to El Paso, Texas losing his business in the process. He was eventually returned to Santa Fe where he pled guilty and for which he was sentenced to a year in the territorial penitentiary, a sentence which began in January 1901. After Jake abandoned his business the property and stock were purchased by his brother Abe who continued to run it as Gold’s Old Curiosity Shop.
While in prison Jake corresponded with his friend Candelario. J.S. (Jesus Sito) Candelario was born 1864 in New Mexico and first worked in Santa Fe as a clerk for Blain Brothers who were merchants, pawnbrokers and dealers in second-hand goods. But in 1891 he launched out on his own opening a second-hand shop and advertising himself as an auctioneer and pawnbroker who “buys, sells, rents and exchanges second hand goods on Lower San Francisco Street,” in the same vicinity as Jake’s former store. This business appears to have closed by 1902.
Jake and Candelario were laying the foundation for a partnership as curio dealers and Candelario began procuring Pueblo pottery, Navajo blankets and other goods. After Jake’s return to Santa Fe, the Old Curio Shop—Jake Gold, manager, J.S. Candelario, proprietor—opened in January 1902 on San Francisco Street, a few doors to the east of the Old Curiosity Shop now owned by Abe Gold. The new partnership didn’t last long, in June 1903 Jake Gold and Candelario parted ways amicably with Jake taking over management of his brother Abe’s store. Candelario continued in business under the name the Old Curio Store, and the roof, of course, was ornamented with an old carreta.
But the death of Abe Gold in August 1903, and subsequently the demise of Jake Gold, “the original old curio man,” in December 1905 left J.S. Candelario as the most prominent curio dealer in Santa Fe. Candelario quickly assumed the role of “The Curio Man” and renamed his shop the Original Old Curio Store, advertised as the biggest curio store in the west, at 301-303 San Francisco Street, “Look for the Old Mexican Cart.”
He claimed to be the largest wholesale and retail dealer in genuine Indian and Mexican goods in the United States and maintained that he was the only native-born curio dealer in the Rocky Mountain district. Candelario’s shop became a must-see for visitors to Santa Fe, attracting the curious and the famous alike including Sinclair Lewis, William Jennings Bryan and President Theodore Roosevelt. Besides thousands of curios offered for sale, comprising Indian blankets, baskets, pottery, drawn work, and turquoise from his own mine near Cerrillos, he also publicized his collection of relics accumulated over the years that were emphatically not for sale. These included the oldest bell in America cast in 1330, a suit of clothes said to have been worn by a man when killed by lightning and a silver spur said to have been worn by Emperor Maximilian on his last horseback ride. His assertion that the business was established in 1603 was as large a fabrication as was the rarity of his relics.
Upon Candelario’s death on July 30, 1938 the Santa Fe New Mexican proclaimed him, “one of the most prominent curio dealers and property owners in the entire Southwest.” The store had closed the year prior after J.S. suffered a heart attack. His grandson (and adopted son as well), and sole heir, John S. Candelario (1916-1993) inherited his grandfather’s estate and reopened the store in December 1938 telling the newspaper, “the policies will remain the same as those of my grandfather. Many items and famous collections will not be for sale, although we are glad to have our many friends and customers come in and view them.”
John was becoming a well-known photographer and left the day-to-day operations of the Original Old Curio Store in the hands of various managers. Shortly after the end of World War II a partial collapse of the roof necessitated extensive renovations, and the newspaper article announcing the reopening, dated April 4, 1946, also described additional business ventures that John was associated with:
Adjoining the store and offices is the workshop of Santa Fe Silversmiths, Inc., of which [William C.] Euler is president, John Candelario, vice president and Wiltz Harrison, secretary/treasurer in charge of design and production. At present eight Indian and several Spanish-Americans are employed. The Native boys are learning to work in copper since if work is defective then the metal can easily be reused. Two of these are veterans who were in the war, and will be able to learn the craft in cooperation with the rehabilitation service. Of the Indians there are three Navajos, two San Juans, a Domingo, an Isleta and a Cochiti woman. In concentrating on hand-made jewelry as against machined output Euler said the firm is using the initials “S.F.S.” as a hallmark. Candelario’s is also a member of the United Indian Traders Association which last month announced its code of standards for hand made Navajo and Pueblo jewelry as a protection to the public.
Santa Fe New Mexican, April 4, 1946
John must have grown weary of the curio business, on May 21, 1947 he sold the Original Old Curio Store to local merchants Dan Taichert and Al Thorwaldsen. The shop and property have passed through a number of hands since 1947, but continues in operation as the Original Trading Post, now displaying a metal carreta on the roof.
Now, considering the hallmark on the back of Gloria Dollar’s pin that started this entire investigation. It is obvious that the cart depicted in the hallmark is the one used for Candelario’s Original Old Curio Shop. However, Jonathan Batkin, who has thoroughly researched the business records of J. S. Candelario, said via personal communication, that he “never found evidence that ‘Indian style’ jewelry was made while he [Candelario] ran the shop.” The style of the pin is typical of late 1930s Native American silver jewelry made for the tourist trade. That leads us to believe the mark was used between 1939-1946 during John Candelario’s ownership of the business. But, as always, our attribution is open to more research.
Much of the history about Jake Gold and J.S. Candelario is derived from Jonathan Batkin’s research, especially from his 2008 publication The Native American Curio Trade in New Mexico, supplemented by personal communications and historic newspaper articles.
