Black Hills gold jewelry is a type of jewelry manufactured in the Black Hills of South Dakota. It was first created in the 1870s during the Black Hills Gold Rush by a French goldsmith named Henri LeBeau, who is said to have dreamed about the design after passing out from thirst and starvation. Black Hills gold jewelry depicts leaves, grape clusters and vines, and is made with alloys of gold with standard yellow gold as well as green and pink gold.[1][2] In 1980, the 8th Circuit affirmed an injunction ruling that if a manufacturer was to call its jewelry Black Hills Gold, then it must be made in the Black Hills.[3] The state of South Dakota designated Black Hills gold as the official state jewelry in 1988.[4][5]
The designs use grapes, grape leaves and grape stems and are easily recognizable for their distinctive colors. Silver is alloyed with the yellow gold to produce the green hue, and copper is alloyed with the yellow gold to make the red or pink gold. The jewelry was originally made with South Dakota-mined gold but in more recent years, since the closure of the Homestake Mine, the gold is sourced elsewhere.[6]
- ^ Paul Higbee, "Making Yellow Magic", South Dakota Magazine, November/December 2006.
- ^ "The Legend of Henry LeBeau", KOTA (AM), May 29, 2009 (audio).
- ^ "Black Hills Jewelry Mfg. Co. v. LaBelle's, 633 F.2d 746, 754 n.8 (8th Cir. 1980)". Retrieved 26 March 2012.
- ^ S.D. Codified Laws §1-6-16.2 (accessed 2012-01-13).
- ^ McPherson, Alan L. (2011). State Geosymbols: Geological Symbols of the 50 United States. AuthorHouse. p. 133. ISBN 978-1-4634-4264-4.
- ^ "Black Hills Gold and Silver" in Dustin D. Floyd, Insiders' Guide to South Dakota's Black Hills and Badlands, (Globe Pequot, 4th ed., 2007), ISBN 978-0762741922, pp. 132-133. Excerpts available at Google Books.