Artist: Once Known

Tribe: Diné (Navajo)
Dimensions: 3 1/2″L x 2 5/8”W x 2 3/4”H
Stone: Natural Turquoise
Material: Silver

Not For Sale

As seen in the Elegant Vessels: A century of southwest silver boxes book (Pages 24 & 25)

Considering the box at the Peabody Museum, Harvard University, to be a prototype, or at least an early example, the use of bow guards as box tops became a frequent practice. The box cover pictured here is an actual bow guard with the copper attachment loops still intact on the back. The silver box has been fashioned with arched ends to fit the curve of the bow guard.

A less-frequent and less-costly practice was to mount a bow guard onto a dome-top wooden box. The basic bow-guard design concept became an accepted format for cover layouts. The trend set a style.