Navajo Willie Yazzie Native American Round Bear Paw Brooch Pendant Sterling Silver Overlay Willie Yazzie?s gourd dipper partial hallmark on the back. Navajo Overlay Artist Willie Yazzie Measures about 1 1/2 inches in diameter Very good to excellent conditions. Check all the pictures closely as part of the description condition. After the success of the overlay designs made at the Hopi Guild many other silversmiths and shops incorporated overlay in their designs (see Overlay is Not Always Hopi Made). Navajo trader Dean Kirk opened his own trading post at Manuelito, New Mexico (between Gallup and the Arizona border) by January 1941. The silver work made in Dean?s shop was typically Navajo tourist type designs and hallmarked UITA22 (under the auspices of the United Indian Traders Association) until about 1951. That?s when Kirk designed a series of overlay pins to be made by Navajo smiths in his employ incorporating Hohokam and Mimbres designs. These designs proved to be very popular, as a 1958 newspaper advertisement for Enchanted Mesa in Albuquerque promoted ?Dean Kirk?s Navajo Overlay Silver?. The overlay pieces made at Kirk?s shop were rarely hallmarked. According to Social Security records, Willie A. Yazzie was born at Chinle, Arizona in 1928. His son says he learned silverwork at Dean Kirk?s trading post in Manuelito in the early 1950s, and created his touchmark (or hallmark) no later than 1960, and after that time his pieces made at Dean Kirk?s would have included his gourd dipper hallmark. His designs often incorporated animal figures such as roadrunners or Navajo designs including Yeis and Father Sky. He never added ?tamp work,? or a textured pattern to the background designs.