I am a third generation jewelry maker in my family. My grandfather started in New York City in the 1910′s as a gold and platinum designer, moved out to Santa Fe, NM due to tuberculosis. He recovered there and loved the area so much he stayed and started his first shop on the Plaza diagonally across from the La Fonda hotel in 1927. He then opened a branch in Tucson in 1937. My dad grew up between Tucson and Santa Fe, and I grew up in Tucson.
My grandfather started to hallmark his work initially with a flat graver and wiggled engraved his hallmark into the back of his pieces. He then had several stamps made over the years which he used to mark his personal work and which the craftsmen he employed in his studio used to mark their work. As my dad grew into the business he developed his own hallmark which he used on his personal work and kept using the “shop” hallmark for his craftsmen, one of which eventually was me.
My dad wrote the definitive article about this; http://www.frankpatania.com/frank/index.html and I won’t try to re-write it here. Go to the “jewelry for sale” link at the bottom of that first page and you can locate the article.
I have started to notice a willful disregard of my dad’s article and his history of Patania hallmarking by those who are selling vintage or what they want to be vintage Patania jewelry. The market seems to think that if my grandfather made the item, Frank Patania, Sr. , it is worth more and misrepresent many pieces as his. To be sure, the hallmarking history is confusing but, both my dad and I are still alive to render opinions of what is made personally by Frank senior, Frank junior and Sam and what is Thunderbird Shop jewelry. All of the Thunderbird Shop jewelry was designed, spec’ed and made under in one of our studios. They are Patania work just as Spratling pieces were not made by William Spratling but designed and made in his studio. Patania jewelry becomes premium when it was personally made by Frank senior, Frank junior or Sam and not by one of the many talented craftsmen in our studios. Identifying who made which piece is often difficult, which is described in dad’s article. But the information is available and those buying it should take the time to research us if they are interested in collecting Patania work. Patania work is being sought after by collectors so the market often has pieces on E-Bay , for instance, which have not been researched by the seller. These pieces are often represented as one generation or another with out regard to dad’s hallmark history. This bothers dad and me and we wonder why nobody looked on line to try to delineate the hallmark.
I ask please, if you are interested in collecting my family’s work, do your research, read dad’s article and buy carefully.
