A little while ago a box of old Maisel's silver came to us, and I have not been able to stop looking at it. If you have ever wondered what "Maisel's" means stamped on the back of a charm, or why collectors get quietly excited about a piece that is still tied to its original card, this one is for you.
What was Maisel's Trading Post?
Maurice Maisel opened the trading post on Route 66 in downtown Albuquerque at the end of the 1930s, timed to the Mother Road's path through the city. It grew into one of the great Southwestern trading posts of the twentieth century. The building itself was designed by architect John Gaw Meem in the Pueblo Revival style, with a mural program led by Olive Rush and painted alongside a group of young Native artists. By the 1940s it was the largest operation of its kind on Route 66, and at its peak it employed more than 300 American Indian craftsmen. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1993.
Travelers driving the Mother Road stopped in for sterling silver charms, jewelry, and souvenirs made in the New Mexico tradition. The charms they carried home, roadrunners, buffalo, dancers, covered wagons, little state maps, are now among the most collected small pieces of Southwestern silver there are.
What "new old stock" and "deadstock" actually mean
New old stock, sometimes called deadstock, is inventory that was made years ago, never sold, and never worn. It is not vintage in the sense of secondhand. It is genuinely old, genuinely unworn, and there is no more of it being made. When a piece sells, there is no reorder. That is the whole appeal: you get the piece exactly as it left the trading post, often still attached to the original Maisel's card it was displayed on.
How to tell real vintage Maisel's from a reproduction
The clearest tell is the card. A genuine deadstock Maisel's charm is still fixed to the original printed trading-post card it shipped on. Look too for the sterling stamp, the hand-finished detail, and the specific molds Maisel's used. If you want a deeper primer on separating real Southwestern silver and turquoise from imitation, our authenticity story and turquoise buying guide walk through exactly what to look for.
Why we are excited about this collection
We work stone-first, from named American mines, and most of what we make is one of a kind. These Maisel's pieces fit that exactly: object provenance to sit alongside our stone provenance, each one genuinely the only one, each still on its Route 66 card. They wear as pendants, they hang on a charm bracelet, and they make the kind of gift people keep.
A few to start with: the roadrunner with a turquoise eye, the spiderweb turquoise nugget pendant, and the New Mexico yucca, our state flower.
See the whole box
The full set is live now, and it is genuinely first come, first served. Shop the Maisel's Trading Post collection. When a piece is gone, it is gone.
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