A concho belt is a Southwestern belt built from a row of decorative silver discs — conchos — mounted along a leather strap, usually finished with a matching buckle. Developed by Navajo silversmiths in the 1800s, it is one of the most iconic forms of Native American jewelry and a lasting status piece.
The form has a clear lineage. Navajo silversmiths began making concho belts in the second half of the 1800s, adapting round silver discs — likely inspired by Plains hair plates and Spanish-Mexican silver — into ornaments strung on a leather belt. The word concho comes from the Spanish concha, meaning shell, for the discs' rounded, shell-like form.
Construction evolved over time. On the earliest belts, conchos were slotted so the leather passed directly through the silver. Later smiths soldered a copper loop or bar to the back of each disc, hiding the leather and freeing the front for fuller decoration. Many belts also carry smaller spacers, called butterflies, between the main conchos, and a matching buckle anchors the design.
Decoration is where the artistry shows. Conchos are stamped with hand-cut steel dies, raised with repoussé, and often set with turquoise or other stones, so a belt can range from spare, elegant silver to an elaborate stone-set suite. Because each disc is worked by hand, a fine concho belt represents many hours of stampwork and setting.
A concho belt is both adornment and heirloom. Substantial silver, crisp hand stampwork, and secure settings mark serious work, and a genuine belt should be artist-made and documented. Every piece at The Humiovi is authenticated and comes with a Certificate of Authenticity naming the maker.
The concho belt sits alongside the squash blossom necklace and the cuff bracelet as one of the signature forms of Navajo silver. To see the tradition that produced it, read what makes Navajo jewelry distinctive.