Ben Nighthorse Campbell, who passed away on Dec. 30, 2025, at the age of 92, was a man of many titles and accomplishments: U.S. senator, Olympic athlete, advocate of American Indian causes and Korean War veteran. However, the most consistent thread throughout his extraordinary life was his identity as a master jeweler. For Campbell, jewelry was not merely a hobby; it was a primary vocation that provided him with wealth, international prestige, and a creative outlet for his Northern Cheyenne heritage.
His journey into the world of metalwork began under difficult circumstances. Campbell’s early years were marked by hardship, including time spent in an orphanage while his mother battled tuberculosis and his father struggled with alcoholism. It was his father who first taught him to solder metal and fashion jewelry, according to the New York Times.
During his time at the orphanage, a young Campbell would place silver coins on railroad tracks to be flattened by passing trains, subsequently working the metal into pieces he could trade for food. He later reflected that “making jewelry was a matter of necessity”.
In 1954, he founded his brand, Nighthorse Jewelry. His technical skill was unique, blending the traditional Navajo designs of his youth with sophisticated techniques he learned from Japanese sword makers while living in Tokyo as a research student. This fusion of styles resulted in a reputation that extended far beyond the borders of his home state of Colorado. Over his lifetime, Campbell earned more than 200 national and international awards for his designs. His work became highly sought after by collectors, including celebrities such as Mick Jagger and Robert Redford, as well as several U.S. presidents. The brand currently has stores in Santa Fe, NM; Durango, CO; and New York, NY (SoHo).
A feather pendant from Nighthorse Jewelry.
Campbell’s success as a jeweler was so significant that it served as the accidental catalyst for his political career. In 1982, while traveling to deliver a jewelry design to California, bad weather grounded his plane in Durango. While waiting for the storm to pass, he attended a local Democratic meeting and was talked into running for office — a path that eventually led him to the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate.
Despite his 22 years in public office, Campbell never lost his passion for his art. In 2004, he chose to retire from the Senate to return his focus to the jewelry that had initially made him wealthy. His pieces eventually achieved the highest honor of being displayed at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian. In his final years, he took immense pride in seeing his grandson, Luke Longfellow, become the creative director of Nighthorse Jewelry, ensuring the brand’s legacy would continue. To Campbell, according to his brand’s website, his jewelry was “his story, his spirit, and his values made tangible”.
His life was like one of his own masterworks: forged in the heat of early hardship, hammered into shape by a relentless work ethic, and polished by decades of public service into something enduring and brilliant.
Advertisement
