Jewelry from the SG Pence Estate

The items you will be viewing come from the S.G. Pence estate. Mr. Pence was a trader it the truest of terms. In the early forties Mr. Pence was helping a family member move to Arizona. Near Keam’s Caynon on the Navajo reservation Mr. Pence traded a 30-30 Winchester saddle ring carbine for a Ganado red Navajo rug from the weaver’s husband. Thus began a long career of trading in Indian goods. Sellas, known to most as S.G., and his wife, Faye, and their children, Gayle and Larry, moved to Arizona from Ohio in 1953. The following spring they moved to Texas where S.G. bought a ranch and two years later began construction on the buildings that would house his business, the “Rawhide Corral”.

The trips to Arizona and New Mexico were frequent. S.G. traded hay, grain, horses, guns, trucks, trailers, western goods, saddles, boots, hats, Indian jewelry and more than a few Harley Davidson motorcycles. He could shoe a horse or shear a sheep and often was seen doing these things for and with his Zuni and Navajo friends.

It is really neat to go to Gallup and hear the traders tell their “Pence stories”. There is the one about S.G. trading a new GMC pickup truck to Eddie Beyuka for boles; another about a trip in the spring to New Mexico on one of their Harley’s when they came riding into town in a blizzard, but the best is probably the dog story.

The Pence’s were easily recognized by their motor home with the red canoe on the top and the two very large solid black German shepherds who rode shotgun on the front seat. The Pence’s bought a lot of jewelry that day and a part of their haul was two extremely fine Garcia natural heishi graduated bead necklaces complete with jaclas. These were very large and very pricey [$5000 to $6000] pieces for the early 1970’s. The brown sacks with the necklaces were placed in the motor home and then everyone went to Jerry’s for lunch. The big, bad, black dogs had lunch too. Those two were still just pups and everyone who has had a shepherd or a lab knows that they will chew on any and everything. Yep, they ate the necklaces and some thirty plus years later that story is still legend.

The Pence’s dealt in jewelry for all the years from the forties through the nineties. As happens with everyone, the years added up and they were no longer able to travel and trade; however, S.G. went to his shop every day until his health completely failed. He loved visiting and telling his stories. His vast knowledge of jewelry and the artists he called friends is now gone along with him and most of those of his era, traders and artist alike.

Now you have a tad of insight into whom S. G. was. He is gone from this earth, but a lot of the goodies in his vault are still there and we will have some of these items to offer to you from time to time. There are pieces that you simply would have a very difficult time finding. The only way these will be seen is either from a private collection or from the vaults of the old traders like Mr. Pence. Some of the jewelry that S.G. and Faye collected and bought to sell over the years will be for sale at this web site.