Two Weekends of Special Merit

Today is Armed Forces Day, designated to salute the men and women who get out of bed every morning not knowing whether or not they will be called into battle. We owe them so much as they figuratively guard the ramparts, watching for threats to our reedom and willing to ride into the breach to defend us at a moment's notice. 


We should all pause to thank them. 


If you pass someone in uniform on the street or in the airport, tell them "Thank you for your service". You may worry that you will be disturbing them or invading their privacy. Please trust me. They appreciate the recognition. 


Susanne and I have done this hundreds of times in our travels. We have never received any response that wasn't a heartfelt "thank you" in return, accompanied by a slight sense of surprise that anyone cares. We do care.


And next weekend we will commemorate those who not only risked their lives, but lost them in defense of your freedom. This Memorial Day, please take a break from the beer, barbecue and other family events to pause with your mind thankfully focused on their sacrifice.


God bless American and God Bless those who defend us. 

Navajo Folk Art 

By the way, many of you may not know of the valiant contributions of Native Americans in our nations defense. Many of them, most notably the Navajo Code Talkers' (reproduced here in their Marine Corps Dress uniforms as carved by Renzo Reed) were on the front lines during combat in WWII. They used their obscure Navajo (Dine') language to communicate about the enemy, information that was passed on to commanders. Because it was not a common language, the enemy was unsuccessful in translating it and breaking the codes.

What's Your Gripe. The Business of Complaining.

It seems everyone has a "Gripe." The Occupy Wall Street crowds have a gripe. The TEA Partiers have a gripe. The Palestinians have a gripe. The Greek rioters have a gripe. Those gripes seem almost beyond reconciliation.  

What about the lesser gripes? 

Well, lesser to the media, but not so lesser to you when the flowers you order for Mother's Day arrive limp or the Made in America jewelry turns out to be made in China or an eBay purchase isn't quite what it is described to be.

What can you do besides fume and rant and gripe?

Not much if you have an unresponsive seller. It is the sign of a company that is more focused on itself than on the customer.  The irony is that the company that focuses on itself instead of its customer will soon have no customers to be concerned about.

Little satisfaction to the customer who feels cheated. There is much more comfort in doing business with a seller that guarantees its products. If you are buying sight unseen online, that guarantee is even more important.

When you order an item of Native American jewelry, a piece of Pueblo pottery or a Zuni carving, based on a description and a photo, you don't really know what you are going to get until you hold it in your hand.

When you order it from Native-American-jewelry.org, Native-PotteryLink.com or ZuniLInk.com, be assured that you have a satisfaction guarantee in force for at least 10 days after you receive it. Any item that does not live up to your expectation, for any reason, send it back for a purchase price refund.

How serious are we? Recently, at Native-American-jewelry, we had a purchase refused and returned without even opening the shipping package. We accepted it and cancelled the charge. We doubt it was a dissatisfaction with the item. But that's not the point. The point is the guarantee is for satisfaction, under any circumstances. 

Do you have that kind of confidence in your seller?

SWAIA to Celebrate Pueblo Potters, June 2, 2012

The South West Association for Indian Art (SWAIA) is hosting an event in celebration of Pueblo Potter Recipients of 2012 Lifetime Achievement Allan Houser Legacy Award on June 2, 2012 at the Allan Houser Studio and Sculpture Gardens, 22 Haozous, Cerrillos, NM. The event starts at 5:30 pm with dinner and a reception. Phillip M. Haozous will perform on the flute.


The event will be open to the public with a suggested donation of $20. You may RSVP to mybarra@SWAIA.org. Since we will not be in New mexico over that date, Native-PotteryLink.com will be attending in spirit only. 


We invite anyone there in person to post comments, photos or video to this blog. Or to http://www.facebook.com/Native.American.Pueblo.Pottery


Help us spread the word
Thank you.

Stolen Art Alert


An Elliptical Turquoise-Decorated Silver Box was Stolen from an Albuquerque, NM Gallery, on May 4, 2012 . An image is posted at www.ATADA.org/theft.html#terry2012-1 .

Please check out the images posted on our Theft Alert Page and familiarize yourself with them so that you will be prepared if someone offers any of these for sale.

The lesson from our previous alerts is clear - if there are items on the ATADA theft alert page or on the ATADA Caveat Emptor page, they are very difficult to sell, and must be kept out of sight, even in a home collection. Note that there is no statute of limitations on stolen property in the USA. Let the buyer beware!

Please look at these images and check anything that is offered to you against the images on the ATADA Theft Alert and the ATADA Caveat Emptor pages.



This message brought to you by www.Native-American-Jewelry.org on behalf of Antique Tribal Art Dealer Association.