Turquoise before it’s jewelry, by Waites

I recently discovered a discussion group on Yahoo that features turquoise – before it finds its way into Native American or any other jewelry. The group, American Turquoise Mines, continually interests me as the members discuss various “varieties” of turquoise, based on the mine it is believed to originate from.

So far as I can tell, these are almost exclusively miners of turquoise, resellers of raw turquoise or lapidaries who cut, slice and polish it for use in jewelry made by others.

I may be wrong, but there appears to be a decided dislike for Chinese, as opposed to American, turquoise. Maybe I am just reading that into comments in a group that focuses on American turquoise. At the very least, they get upset about Chinese turquoise that is misidentified by sellers as “American.” Rightly so.

They also evaluate the turquoise being offered on eBay and the sellers of that material. Helpful, if not completely authoritative. Take it with a grain.

Anyway, there are numerous turquoise varieties - in green and white in addition to blue - from the following mines: Apache, Bisbee, Number 8, Blue Gem, Blue Ice, Blue Jay, Blue June, Blue Star, California Gem, Candelaria, Caeico Lake, Cerrillos, Cripple Creek, Damele, Dameli, Duvall Kingman, Fox Mine, Hatchita Float, Indian Mountain, Indian Blue, Last Chance, Lander Blue, Lander Blue Web, Lil Chalchihuital, Lizard Jim, Mastrada, Morenci, Nevada Blue, Green #8, Edgar #8, Orogrande Float, Orvil Jack, Oscar Wehrent, Pilot Mountain, Pixie,, Royston, Searchlight, Shadow Mountain, Sleeping Beauty, Smith, Stennich, Timberline, Tyrone, Valley View, Verde, Turquoise Mountain, White Buffalo.

Did you have any idea that there were that many turquoise mines – in the U.S., no less?

One recent subject of extensive discussion was (Sacred) White Buffalo turquoise. Some commenters believe it is not turquoise at all, but some similar material. Others believe it is genuine turquoise by chemical and physical analysis that’s whiteness is simply very pale blue.

Quoting from one member of the group -

“When discovered in the Dry Creek Mine on the Shoshone Indian Reservation near Battle Mountain, Nevada in 1993, they were not sure what it was. Because of its hardness, it was decided to send it to have it assayed and their suspicions proved correct; it was in fact Turquoise. It was not until 1996 however that it was finally made into Jewelry.

“Turquoise gets its color from the heavy metals in the ground where it forms. Blue turquoise forms when there is copper present, which is the case with most Arizona turquoises. Green turquoise forms where iron is present, the case with most Nevada turquoises. Sacred Buffalo Turquoise forms where there was no heavy metal present, which turns out to be a rare occurrence. The lack of any specific color consistency makes this stone distinctive and unique from other turquoises.

“Because this turquoise is so rare, the Indians have named it “Sacred Buffalo” turquoise.”

Native American Indian jewelry relies heavily on turquoise for gem material. Since the raw turquoise used costs more or less depending on the quality and rarity of stone, it also influences the cost of he jewelry in which it appears. Of course there are other factors as well, including the skill and reputation of the jewelry maker.

Nevertheless, the more you know about turquoise, the sharper you will be as a Native American jewelry buyer.

You'll find a number of outstanding turquoise pieces at our Native-JewelryLink web site. Where we know the source mine, we quote it. We intend to be even more diligent in determining the variety. Often, the artist doesn't know.

By the way, turquoise plays a major role in Zuni fetish carvings in addition, especially in carvings by the Gasper family, Jeff Tsalabutie and Alonzo Esalio. See examples at these links.

Speaking of Prices – What’s going on in downtown Santa Fe?

We used to chuckle when people would visit our Sanibel gallery, Aboriginals: Art of the First Person, and comment that they loved our art but would wait until they visited Santa Fe, where the prices would be lower.

Obviously, those people had never been to Santa Fe. We have, and return regularly. It is a special place.

There is a certain cachet to buying tribal art in Santa Fe. But price isn't part of it.

We know that our prices, even when we had the physical gallery, were never higher than those in Santa Fe and usually lower.

We understand. Santa Fe is a high-rent district. Galleries there, as with all galleries everywhere, must pay their rent and their staff.

The money to do that must be baked into the price of every object of art they sell. There is no other way to do it.

Now we read in the Santa Fe New Mexican newspaper that galleries and shops in downtown Santa Fe are in a crunch. Rents remain high but traffic is down, largely because of extensive construction downtown.

One gallery owner is quoted as saying, “Downtown Santa Fe has lost its vibrancy.”

We don’t want to dump on Santa Fe. We love the place. Its art, its culture, its dining and its climate truly make it “The City Different.”. We sincerely hope it recovers and quickly.

But rest assured that you don’t have to go to Santa Fe or even shop online with Santa Fe dealers to get quality, authentic, Native American jewelry, pottery, folk art and fetish carvings at excellent prices. And with service that you will tell your friends about.

Local retailer hawks “Internet Pricing”

There are certain occurrences in life that tend to represent "tipping points" in the human consciousness.

Without placing too much importance on it, William Waites, co-owner of Aboriginals Gallery, considers that the use of the term “internet pricing” by a local retailer may be one of those benchmarks.

When Aboriginals closed our physical gallery on Sanibel Island in Florida to operate exclusively online, we commented on how it allowed us to reduce our prices because we had reduced our overhead.

(As it turned out, the overhead reduction was not as dramatic as we had anticipated, what with other business costs replacing those that were eliminated or reduced. But that is another story.)

Generally, we have been able to reduce our prices by about 30% averagely across the board - before including special sales such as our recently ended April Foolishness reduction of 30 %.

Now, we hear that the concept of lower prices on the internet has permeated other merchants and businesses, including some with massive bricks and mortar cost structures. Hence, a local jeweler is running radio and television commercials claiming the prices in its stores are "internet prices."

So, I guess it is now indisputable common knowledge that the same items cost less when purchased via the internet.

This leaves the only impediments to internet shopping being the reliability of the seller and the suitability of the item when actually evaluated in hand.

We attempt to solve both the problems by pointing out that we have been in the tribal arts business since 1979, 28 years.

Over that time, with thousands of sales, we have had very few returns from people who did not want the item once they had it physically available for inspection.

Sometimes it has been a size problem. Sometimes a color problem. (Both size and color information have limitations on the internet.)

Occasionally it has been that an item purchased for display purposes that was not perceived to look right in the intended space when it was “tried on.”

To be fully candid, we also had one item returned when the purchaser located an “expert” who claimed the item was not what it was purported to be. We took it back with a full refund – our standard policy on authenticity issues when we are notified within 30 days.

We researched the challenge and found that it was debatable as to whether the attribution was 100% accurate or not.

Nevertheless, we accepted the return. No big deal. Just the way we are.

If you are looking for authentic, guaranteed tribal art – at “internet prices” – may we suggest a visit to our Web sites at Native-JewelryLink.com, Native-PotteryLink.com, TribalWorks.com and/or ZuniLink.com?

We welcome your keen eye and your high standards.

Navajo family home to receive Extreme Makeover treatment.

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition has selected a Navajo family, the Yazzies of Arizona, for a makeover of their home. Previously living in a double-wide mobile home without plumbing, insulation and other comforts that average Americans take for granted, the Yazzie family struggled to provide warmth in their home.

Burning coal, a heating mainstay of Navajo structures was not possible since one of the Yazzie children, Gwendolyn, has severe asthma and suffers from epilepsy. Coal smoke would have been hazardous to her health.

Her brother, 13-year-old Garrett, went to work creating a solar heater using aluminum cans and old automotive parts. The task was accomplished with the help of internet research, mentors and many trips to the local junkyards for material.

Recognition Garrett’s initiative and innovation led to the Extreme Makeover producer selecting the Yazzie family to be on the receiving end of a replacement home constructed by HomeLife Communities. The effort was recorded on video from April 12 to April 17.

The new home was constructed in the style of a traditional Navajo Hogan and was faithful to the green and earth-friendly traditions of the Navajo people.

Scheduled airing of the program, and the famous Ty Pennnington line, “Good Morning, Yazzie family,” is yet to be announced.

You can watch Extreme Makeover: Home Edition on ABC on Sunday evenings.

Tribal Artery now being posted to Technorati

Technorati Profile

Speaking of Native tongues – Wisconsin Oneidas create a language Web site.

According to the US Census of 2000, just 553 individuals speak the Oneida language, with 429 of them living in Wisconsin.

In an effort to perpetuate what would otherwise be a dying language, the University of Wisconsin at Green bay has created a web site, in collaboration with a tribal elder from Oneida, to promote and sustain the language of the Oneida. Professor Clifford Abbot and 96-year-old Maria Hinton are using the Web site to transform a printed dictionary of this oral language into an online database, including sound samples.

The Oneida language is part of the Iroquoian family of languages and related more distantly to Cherokee.

According to Abbot and Hinton, approximately 4,000 words, with about 900 sounds, have been placed on the Web site.

Oneida reservations are located in New York and Ontario, Canada, in addition to Wisconsin.

This news brief about Native American culture is brought to you by Aboriginals Gallery, a suite of online Web sites that offer authentic, guaranteed Native American and other tribal art from the Navajo, Zuni, Hopi and Arctic peoples.

Exhibitions at the National Museum of the American Indian

Lots of activity at the National Museum(s) of the American Indian in coming days.

In Washington, DC, “Identity by Design: Tradition, Change, and Celebration in Native Women’s Dresses” will be open through January 2, 2008. The exhibition examines the individual, communal and cultural identity of Native women as reflected in their dresses and their artistry in creating them.

Also in Washington, "Return to a Native Place: Algonquian Peoples of the Chesapeake" is an ongoing show of photographs, maps, ceremonial and everyday objects giving evidence of the continuing, since the 1600s, presence of the Nanticoke, Powhatan and Piscataway Tribes in the Chesapeake area.

Three additional ongoing exhibitions at the NMAI in DC feature “Our Universe”, “Our Peoples” and “Our Lives”. The first focuses on cosmologies of the Native communities and the spiritual relationships between them and the earth. The second tells the stories, and 500 years of history, of eight different indigenous Native tribes through their own words. The third reveals how the members of eight Native communities live, and preserve and express their identity within the complexities of the 21^st Century.

Shows in the nation’s capitol are presented at the NMAI on the Mall.

Meanwhile, the New York venue of the NMAI is offering four shows on its own.

“Off the Map: Landscape in the Native Imagination” will run through September 3, 2007. The Native artists featured in the show examine landscape from the complex perspectives of home, culture and identity, all aspects of the “land” for them.

“Beauty Surrounds Us” runs through September 23, 2008, presenting 77 works of Native art from the museum’s collection. This show inaugurates the new Diker Pavilion for Native Arts and Cultures.

“Indigenous Motivations: Recent Acquisitions from the National Museum of he American Indian” concludes its appearance on June 10, 2007. This show focuses on the works the NMAI has acquired since 1990, including the massive George Gustave Heye collection.

Finally, in New York, “Born of Clay: Ceramics from the National Museum of the American Indian” closes at the end of this month. This is a pottery-lovers feast of works by eight Native potters from four regions (the Andes, eastern North America, Mesoamerica, and the southwestern US).

All New York shows are at the George Gustave Heye Center. More information on all shows is available at the NMAI web site.

Aboriginals Gallery, and its allied Web sites at ZuniLink.com, TribalWorks.com, Native-PotteryLink.com and Native-JewelryLink.com, are happy to bring you news of exhibitions at the NMAI. People that are unable to get to Washington, DC or New York City will find a wide sampling of authentic Native American art and artifacts at these web sites.

Fife, WA, Schools will teach Native American history

Funded by the Puyallup Tribe and led by a former chair of the Skokomish people, the Fife, Washington, school system will begin teaching about local native history and relationships between tribal and other governments as part of the history curriculum.

The courses are in response to a 2005 Washington State law that encourages the teaching of American Indian history and culture in public school districts.

This Tribal Artery news brief is brought to you by the owners of Aboriginals Gallery, an online source for items of Native American and other tribal art.

Aboriginals salutes the SWAIA poster artist 2007

Our congratulations go to Marvin Oliver (Quinault/Isleta) for his selection as poster artist for the 2007 SWAIA Santa Fe Indian Market.

Oliver is the first glass artist to receive this honor. An example of his work will appear on the poster promoting this year's Indian Market.
Entitled, "Shaman Tells the Raven's Tale", the work combines classic Northwest Coast style with traditional Southwest color palette.

In addition to his art, Oliver also serves as Professor of American Indian Studies and Art at the University of Washington, serves part-time at the University of Alaska-Ketchikan, serves as Adjunct Curator of Contemporary Native American Art at the Burke Museum and maintains a gallery, Alaska Eagle Arts, in Ketchikan. He was the first non-Italian artist to be commissioned for a public art piece in Perugia, Italy, Seattle's sister city.

This year's Indian Market will take place in August again. As usual, William & Susanne Waites, owners of Aboriginals Gallery, and its allied Web sites, ZuniLink, Native-JewelryLink, Native-PotteryLink and TribalWorks, and publishers of Tribal Artery will be blogging from there with the latest news about winning artists, events and general observations about Santa Fe and the Market.

If you would like to be among the first to know about Indian Market news, why not subscribe now to a feed for the blog. You'll find the various feed possibilities in the sidebar at the right. Then, when the news comes, you will get an alert that it has been posted to the Tribal Artery blog.

For examples of the coverage from last year, look at our postings from August/September 2006 in our archives.

So Many Auctions for Tribal Art collectors

Sotheby's (New York) has three auctions of tribal art set for the coming week, with previews starting tomorrow.

For more information or to order reference catalogs, go to www.sothebys.com

For price comparisons on similar items or to acquire that piece you "just missed" in the Sotheby's auctions, visit any of our web sites at ZuniLink , Native-JewelryLink , Native-PotteryLink and/or TribalWorks .

Aboriginals-Tribalworks posts vintage Australian Tiwi spears

William Waites and Susanne Waites have just added four previously unlisted vintage Australian Aboriginal spears to the Website at TribalWorks. These are authentic works of tribal art by Australian Aborigines from the Tiwi Islands (Bathurst & Melville) and the Central Desert. Each of these spears dates back at least to approximately the 1960s and was acquired in Australia.
To view the spears, and other Australian Aboriginal carvings in greater detail, visit TribalWorks and navigate to the Australian Room and then to the carvings gallery.
Please note that we are showing only the top portion of the spears her. The full length extends between 61" and 86".

New Postal rates coming

Word reaches us about new postal rates that will affect shipping charges in May.

According to Auctiva, the primary impact will be on eBay purchases.

But it also will affect shipping charges for purchases from all online merchants.

If your merchant includes shipping in the base cost of the item, you won't notice any change. (Except maybe an increase in item prices. Someone has to pay the USPS.)

If shipping is a separate charge, you will see some increase in that cost.

Two things to do:

One, if you are planning a purchase in May, consider making it now so that you can take advantage of current postage rates. (You also could cash in on our 30% off April Foolishness sale)

Two, be sure to settle with your merchant beforehand exactly what the shipping charges will be, or work out an arrangement that doesn't surprise you if you wait to purchase later.

Incidentally, again according to Auctiva, new names will be given to international services. Global Express Mail will become Express Mail International. Airmail parcel Post, Economy Parcel Post, Global Priority Mail will all fall under Priority Mail International. Airmail Letter Post and Economy letter Post will be called First Class Mail International.

When ordering from any of our websites, Native-JewelryLink, Native-PotteryLink, ZuniLink or TribalWorks, please ask to be informed about the shipping cost for your item. Thank you.

Lena Boone Zuni Fetish Bowl to new home

This fabulous (not a word I often use) fetish bowl by Zuni artist lena Boone has been sold to an excited collector as part of our special April Foolishness sale.It is six inches high and includes fetish carvings on four sides, an eagle fetish carving suspended across the top opening and a mole fetish carving within the bowl. Ground corn meal from Zuni was included to nourish the positive spirits of the carvings. It is covered with ground turquoise and includes a hole near the base on one side for the fetish inside to be fed. The faithful believe that an owner who cares for his or her fetish carving will receive good care and protection from the fetish carving in return.
The creatures around, over and in the bowl represent the six protective directional animals of Zuni cosmology: bear, mountain lion, wolf, badger, eagle and mole.

Lena Boone is a very popular and prolific carver. ZuniLink carries a lot of her fetish carvings. We had seen fetish bowls created by her but never owned one until, after a few complimentary comments in conversations with her about the subject, she surprised us with this one.

We were honored to get this bowl. We hope she will have another one for us before too much time goes by.

If you would like to see some of her fetish carving work (without a bowl), just click on the link above, scroll down the left side of the page and click on the link to her page. There's also a picture of Lena there.

If you are interested in other Native American Indian pottery, including other, smaller fetish bowls, keep an eye on Native-PotteryLink.com.

Thank you.

New, old Australian Aboriginal bark paintings

Susanne and William Waites have just posted eight authentic Aboriginal bark paintings from Australia that have been in our collection since 1990. These join a number of others that have been on our website for sometime.

The Lightning Spirit - Oenpelli - Neville Marrday

Australian Aboriginal barks are a unique art form. They start with a piece of bark that has been prised from the girth of a eucalyptus tree. It is placed on the ground over a smoldering bank of coals with the edges extended to a flattened configuration. Rocks are placed on the corners and the edges to hold the bark down and flat while it cures.

Mimihs & Hunters - Milimbimbi - Djawida

After it has dried and is mostly flat, the stringy side of the barks is scraped to make it smooth. When it is completely flat and smooth, the surface is painted. The media are ground-up ochre, kaolin and charcoal. These all-natural pigments are fined with sand and bound with honey or flower juice.

Bolyu (water spout) Dreaming - Yirrkala - Dhuwarrwarr Marika

The applied patterns involve various designs and icons depending on the area from which the painter comes and the tradition of that area. For example, Oenpelli tends toward an "x-ray" technique that replaces 3-dimensionalism while portraying the shape and skeletal essence of the creature represented. Other areas have other traditions. The Tiwi people of Melville and Bathurst Islands employ a cross-hatch (rarrk) that is said to the specific property of the painter's clan.

Long Neck Turtle totem - Tiwi people

It is said that the bark painting tradition had its genesis as a way of decorating the inner side of bark slabs cut and flattened to serve as lean-to shelters during the wet season of the tropical Northern Territory.

There is more to read and learn about bark painting at the TribalWorks website Australian Room, along with additional examples of this genre.

Incidentally, all these paintings were acquired when the Australian dollar was significantly less valuable vs. the US dollar. The prices were set on the basis of those 1990 exchange rates. That makes them very attractive values at regular price. With our current April Foolishness sale giving 30% off through the end of April, they are even greater bargains.

US and Canadian collectors can call us at 800-305-0185 for more information or order inquiries. Australian collectors tapping into this blog, are invited to inquire too, via the email address on our Web site. We can ship to Australia at very reasonable rates. We would love to see them repatriated to their homeland.

Who’s stealing me?

It is one of the creepiest realizations you can imagine.

You get a phone call one day from a credit card company that wants to confirm your application for a new account, except the address is not the one they have for you.

You answer, “No, not me.”

A day or two later, the phone rings again. Another credit card company wants to know if you have applied for a new account with them. “Nope.” “Not you”, you say.

Now, you think something is up. The same day, your bank statement displays a withdrawal you didn’t make or authorize. Then there is another one.

The bank officer suggests that your Social Security Number has been compromised and someone is using it to hack into your bank account and open new credit card accounts in your name.

You order a credit bureau report and find some strange things in it. Inquiries from a mortgage lender you didn’t ask to lend to you. Addresses for a place you never lived.

You call the sheriff to get an investigation going. The deputy says a detective will contact you.

In the meantime, another unauthorized debit appears on your bank account and you receive a letter from a bank saying they declined your application for a new account because they didn’t think it was really you.

They were right.

So you place a fraud alert on every account you have and all of your credit bureau records.

You pray that you have caught it in time.

We don’t know how my Social Security Number was compromised. We have suspicions. We think it might have been among the veterans' records that were stolen.

Fundamentally, we don’t think it had anything to do with any internet activity, since we never use our SSN on the internet.

Since we are wrestling with attempts to defend ourselves from identity theft personally, we worry even more for those who have not yet been stung.

We have added secure order forms to our Native-JewelryLink and ZuniLink sites. Your credit card info is encrypted, so it is not available to any third parties. (Incidentally, you also can use these secure order forms to order items from Native-PotteryLink and TribalWorks simply by entering the product and credit card information on those order forms - look for the padlock icon on the browser bar. Or you can call us 800-305-0185)

We are concerned about merchants that use shopping carts, however. No matter how secure the merchants are, the credit card information is held by a third party and is only as secure as that third party.

This is not to say that merchants with shopping carts are unethical or even risky. But their practices are less secure than we would generally accept for our customers. Moreover, If the merchant is in the art business, a shopping cart seems unnecessary. If you sell one-of-kind objects of art, how hard is it to keep track of the sale of them?

As a family, mom-and-pop operation that relies on our personal taste and is dedicated to serving each customer as someone we know, we are happy to operate as we do.

A few tips from us: Be sure to order a free credit bureau report. You are entitled to one per bureau each year. It will tell you what is going on with your financial arrangements. Also, read your credit card and bank statements promptly and thoroughly. You want to catch any threats early, as we hope we have.

We want you to be financially whole.

Iroquois Whimseys newly released

by William Waites
We have a number authentic Iroquois (Mohawk) beaded whimseys of museum quality that we are offering as a collection. These extraordinary works of beading and craftwork were created by Iroquois women, most usually Mohawk, for sale as souvenirs to visitors to the tribal areas. The finest of these were made sometime between 1880 and 1920 (estimated).

We have offered less excellent examples on our eBay store at Art of the First Person for lower prices. But this new collection is almost flawless and any beadwork collector should live to have it. We hate to let it go. But space is a cruel master.

If you enjoy beautiful beadwork enjoy these pictures.

Apologies about Triennial blog

If you check the archives of this blog, you will see that a few messages back I promised to blog from the Triennial on African Art in Gainesville, FL.

Personal and family problems interfered with my ability to attend. I had reserved both a hotel room and a registration for the sessions, which I had to cancel.

Sorry. But I am still planning to be at Santa Fe Indian Market and repeat the blog messaging as we did last year. We may also blog from the Gallup InterTribal shortly before the Indian Market.

Speaking of Indian Market, we already are hearing advance promotion about this consummate Indian art event. If you are in the Santa Fe area in August, you might consider volunteering to help out at the Indian Market. I can't think of a better way to immerse yourself in the art of our native American brothers and sisters.

Before you departfor Santa Fe, however, you might visit our web sites at TribalWorks.com, Native-JewelryLink.com, ZuniLink.com and Native-PotteryLink.com. Check out our prices. Back when we had a physical gallery, we used to overhear shoppers comment that they were waiting to visit Santa Fe to buy at lower prices. We have been in Santa Fe, which we love by the way, often enough to know that our online prices - even without our sale discount - are more than competitive with Santa Fe's.

After all, we don't have to pay the rent that they do on the Plaza.

American Indian Art Magazine - Back copies

By William Waites
American Indian Art Magazine is one of the most respected, comprehensive and scholarly to cover the field of Native American Art. Back copies of this publication become collectors' items and treasured in public libraries.

We have a number of them available for purchase at our Tribalworks web site. We also have added two copies that were previously available from us. The summer 1996 issue, featuring Kiowa ledger drawings, and the Winter 1995 issue, celebrating 20 years, with a photo of Maria Martinez reading American Indian Art as a cover subject.We have plenty of others, including some duplicates, for as little as $6.50. That's just $1.50 over the cover the price at time of publication. For an out of print back copy.

Take a look. There may be an issue you missed and would like to have now.

By the way, we have a pair of framed rabbit skins that have been illustrated with ledger style art work. They are stunning, unique and 30% off through the end of April.

Just nine days left to save 30%

by William Waites

If you have been out of circulation, or otherwise not visiting our web sites, Native-JewelryLink, Native-PotteryLink, TribalWorks and ZuniLink, you may be unaware that we have been offering 30% off through out the month of April. (We call it April Foolishness.)

Well, it ends in just nine days.

If you have seen something on one of our web sites that you have always wanted, now is the time to visit again and take advantage of our 30% discount sale.

Incidentally, this is not a sale price on an inflated regular price. You have access to some of the lowest prices for quality items in our day-to-day prices. This is a legitimate 30% reduction for one month only – with only nine days left.

We’ll leave a computer on for you.

30 years and 30% off

30 years ago this month, Susanne and William Ernest Waites gathered up their two sons and moved to Australia. It was the beginning of a love affair for the two of us, as we discovered the art and culture of the Australian Aborigines.

As ancient as it was, with 20,000 years of history dating back to first humans who painted on the cave walls and escarpments in Australia, it was new and fascinating to us.

We had never been exposed to anything like it. We had purchased a few antiques to furnish our home but had not been “collectors” of anything else of value.

That soon ended as we gathered up items of Aboriginal and Papuan material culture, and studied the ways and arts of the people who created them.

A few years later, while returning to the US, we traveled back through Africa and discovered African tribal art. Soon after settling back in the States, we made our first family trip to the American Southwest, where we discovered the magnificent work of North American Indians, followed by the art of the Arctic peoples.

At that point, realizing we had no more brain-space in which contain more knowledge of native cultures, we drew the curtain across further discoveries and concentrated on learning more and collecting more from Africa, Australia, North America and a smattering of Pacific Islander art.

Within a year of returning to the US, we also discovered that we could not just keep on collecting. We would run out of physical space in which to enjoy it. Buying art just to have and store it was not an attractive option for us. Far better to get the art out in the hands of others so the world could enjoy what we found so compelling.

To be candid, selling was also a way to finance a growing collection as we replaced pieces that we had grown tired of with newly acquired pieces that reflected our increased knowledge and experience.

So, 30 years on, we decided it was a good time for the Waites to have a big 30% off sale. Visit our websites at Native-JewelryLink, Native-PotteryLink, TribalWorks and ZuniLink to see what's available that you can't live without. There will never be a better time to acquire it.

Thank you for 30 years of support.