A great bit of Southwestern/Navajo jewelry history, a used tufa cast. Early pieces were called sand cast but tufa has been used when available. A silversmith used this to cast a silver bracelet, pouring molten silver into this mold. You can see the funnel section on one end and the small air vents to help the silver flow into the entire mold.
An additional characteristic about this piece is that the smith also used this piece of tufa as the cover piece for a different cast. Look at the photo of the back of this block and you will see the other design. 8 1/2″ x 4″ x 7/8. “Used, charred, cracked but stable and great for education and display.
