Okay, THIS is Steven Begay showing off without looking like he’s showing off.
From across the room, it reads as this incredibly disciplined strand of silver—long architectural tube beads broken by clusters of handmade saucers. Then you get close and realize Begay has laid 14k gold directly into the silver tubes.
Not a giant gold focal. Not something screaming for attention. Just these precise little flashes of gold appearing throughout the necklace.
At 22 inches and 58 grams, it’s restrained, expensive-looking, and cool as hell.
WHY THIS PIECE MATTERS
Steven Begay’s best work has an extraordinary sense of control, and this necklace is a perfect example of why.
The entire composition is built from an extremely limited vocabulary: elongated silver cylinders, compressed saucer beads, incised lines and narrow passages of gold. Begay changes their spacing and proportions just enough to create movement around the necklace without disrupting its simplicity.
The 14k gold is particularly smart. Rather than treating gold as the centerpiece, he uses it almost like a line drawn through the silver—small warm interruptions against the cool metal.
That tension between traditional Navajo silversmithing and a distinctly modernist approach to form is what gives the necklace its identity.
There is nothing unnecessary here.
ARTIFACT REGISTRY
Artifact Name: Golden Interval
Maker: Steven Begay
Tribe: Navajo
Materials: Sterling silver & 14k gold
Length: 22 inches
Weight: 58 grams
Construction: Hand-fabricated silver tube and saucer-form beads with incised detailing and 14k gold inlay accents
Era: Contemporary / late 20th–early 21st century
Collector’s Gallery Value: $3400
CURATOR’S FIELD OBSERVATION
Look at the tube beads.
Begay could have simply added gold bands and called it finished. Instead, he frames each gold section with multiple incised silver lines. That tiny decision makes the gold feel integrated into the architecture rather than applied as decoration.
Then he separates those structured cylinders with irregular clusters of oxidized saucer beads.
Smooth against textured.
Long against compressed.
Bright silver against oxidation.
Silver against gold.
The necklace is basically constructed from contrasts, but none of them are loud enough to disturb the whole.
ERIC’S NOTES FROM THE FIELD
This is why I love finding pieces by artists who actually understand restraint.
Steven Begay had 14k gold available to him and somehow resisted the completely understandable urge to put that shit everywhere. 😂
Instead you get these tiny flashes.
You notice the necklace first.
Then the craftsmanship.
Then the gold.
Exactly the right order.
Okay, THIS is Steven Begay showing off without looking like he’s showing off.
From across the room, it reads as this incredibly disciplined strand of silver—long architectural tube beads broken by clusters of handmade saucers. Then you get close and realize Begay has laid 14k gold directly into the silver tubes.
Not a giant gold focal. Not something screaming for attention. Just these precise little flashes of gold appearing throughout the necklace.
At 22 inches and 58 grams, it’s restrained, expensive-looking, and cool as hell.
WHY THIS PIECE MATTERS
Steven Begay’s best work has an extraordinary sense of control, and this necklace is a perfect example of why.
The entire composition is built from an extremely limited vocabulary: elongated silver cylinders, compressed saucer beads, incised lines and narrow passages of gold. Begay changes their spacing and proportions just enough to create movement around the necklace without disrupting its simplicity.
The 14k gold is particularly smart. Rather than treating gold as the centerpiece, he uses it almost like a line drawn through the silver—small warm interruptions against the cool metal.
That tension between traditional Navajo silversmithing and a distinctly modernist approach to form is what gives the necklace its identity.
There is nothing unnecessary here.
ARTIFACT REGISTRY
Artifact Name: Golden Interval
Maker: Steven Begay
Tribe: Navajo
Materials: Sterling silver & 14k gold
Length: 22 inches
Weight: 58 grams
Construction: Hand-fabricated silver tube and saucer-form beads with incised detailing and 14k gold inlay accents
Era: Contemporary / late 20th–early 21st century
Collector’s Gallery Value: $3400
CURATOR’S FIELD OBSERVATION
Look at the tube beads.
Begay could have simply added gold bands and called it finished. Instead, he frames each gold section with multiple incised silver lines. That tiny decision makes the gold feel integrated into the architecture rather than applied as decoration.
Then he separates those structured cylinders with irregular clusters of oxidized saucer beads.
Smooth against textured.
Long against compressed.
Bright silver against oxidation.
Silver against gold.
The necklace is basically constructed from contrasts, but none of them are loud enough to disturb the whole.
ERIC’S NOTES FROM THE FIELD
This is why I love finding pieces by artists who actually understand restraint.
Steven Begay had 14k gold available to him and somehow resisted the completely understandable urge to put that shit everywhere. 😂
Instead you get these tiny flashes.
You notice the necklace first.
Then the craftsmanship.
Then the gold.
Exactly the right order.
