REAL Native American Jewelry~

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#496
Compass Rose said:
Wow! What a beautiful piece of history to wear on your finger. If it were me, I would not convert it to anything but keep it as it was made by the artist who may not even be around today. I love it.
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Thanks compassRose! Yes, preserve the artists intent.

jellyv said:
Beautiful ring, congrats. It looks like a 60s-70s ring, not 40s. Definitely not Bisbee, could be Morenci if there are little bits of pyrite in it (silver) as it seems. It's supposed to be a big honkin' ring so I would leave it like that. For sure!
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Ooh thanks for the clues jellyv ! Yes there is pyrite. Wow, I need to get a book and get educated. How can you tell that it’s 60’s 70s..is it the style of the surround?

sdkitty said:
I agree with the others that you should keep it as-is. If you did want to convert it to a bracelet I think you'd have a hard time finding someone to do a good job on it. It wouldn't be cheap and you might regret it.
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Yes I agree with you all. Leave it as is. Thank you for keeping me sane and preserving history!
 
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#497
essiedub said:
Ooh thanks for the clues jellyv ! Yes there is pyrite. Wow, I need to get a book and get educated. How can you tell that it’s 60’s 70s..is it the style of the surround?
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Yes, just a feeling for the style, with those little hash marks into the silver bezel (surround) on the left side. The braided silver on the other part of the bezel is unusual, special. It would take real provenance and hands-on to date it firmly.

Morenci is a high-quality stone!
 
#498
Compass Rose said:
Thank you!.[emoji5] View attachment 4371939
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She makes a lot of heart pieces, but her hallmark is different then yours. Here is a link to check out some Native American hallmarks if you are interested [emoji4]

https://www.art-amerindien.com/signature_bijoux_amerindiens.htm

I have a very large kingman turquoise ring and I love it. It gets a lot of compliments when I wear it. I love a nice statement piece. You may come across a bracelet that will match it beautifully, then you would have a nice set [emoji5]
 
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#499
jellyv said:
[emoji106]Evidently we posted the same thing at about the same time!Or I accidentally duplicated you.[emoji39]
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I don't know why people would pay high prices for dept store jewelry like David Yurman when one can find unique Native American pieces for much less. Just my opinion. I know a lot of people here on the PF love big name merchandise.
 
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#500
Cyanide Rose said:
She makes a lot of heart pieces, but her hallmark is different then yours. Here is a link to check out some Native American hallmarks if you are interested [emoji4]

https://www.art-amerindien.com/signature_bijoux_amerindiens.htm

I
That is my go-to!! I have found quite a few of my own pieces with some of those hallmarks and I truly did the happy dance when I could place a name to the piece. Not to hijack your reply to this, but I have a ring that I purchased in 1973 in a tiny store in St. Clair, Michigan that has the most beautiful stone. I am going to post a picture of this ring...but the ring is not hallmarked and the stone has pyrite in it, which drew me to it right away. I was wondering if jellyv could tell me if she thought the stone was Morenci. I never even asked the sales person one thing about the history or artist because I just was drawn to native american jewelry for its beauty and that was it. Now, I am obsessed with finding out all I can about everything I own. :heart::heart::smile:
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#503
Ooh second pic is better. How pretty!
Eccch it's hard to go "on record" to identify most turquoise on the basis of few pics, but let me say that pyrite doesn't only indicate Morenci. (I think the pyrite gives the stone a lot of character!) Kingman can also have pyrite. Kingman has a chunkier black matrix compared to Morenci, and CR's is chunkier black--but Kingman's also more toward baby blue than Morenci--so I'd vote Morenci for this one too. It could also be Kingman in essiedub's ring; it would take real examination to tell.
Inexact, lol!
 
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#504
jellyv said:
Eccch it's hard to go "on record" to identify most turquoise on the basis of few detailed pics, but let me say that pyrite doesn't only indicate Morenci. (I think the pyrite gives the stone a lot of character!) Kingman can also have pyrite. Kingman usually has a chunkier black matrix compared to Morenci, so I'd guess Kingman in CR's ring. It could also be Kingman in essiedub's ring; it would take real examination to tell.
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I know! But I love the discussions about it! For as much as I knew about it when I bought 100 years ago, at least I have an idea that something was created by hand that contained an earth element by a native american who didn't work for Debeers
 
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#508
gacats said:
Here’s a handy chart showing sample stones from many Southwest mines.
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IMO this vintage map (I think originally 1970s-early 1980s) is good for showing where the mines were rather than the nature and color of their turquoise. Print is notoriously difficult for capturing turquoise. One pretty good resource for showing the colors fairly accurately is Turquoise Unearthed by Joe Lowry. I have a comprehensive library on this stuff and while I like my books, the color reproduction drives me crazy!

https://www.amazon.com/Turquoise-Unearthed-Joe-Dan-Lowry/dp/1887896333
 
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#510
Cyanide Rose said:
Hi all [emoji4] Any thoughts on this piece on turquoise in this ring? Unfortunately, here is a crack on the side of the cab ( top left) but it’s not loose in the setting. View attachment 4373123
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Wow that's a beauty. I'm inclined to say Bisbee, which if so you really lucked out. I've been hunting good Bisbee for a long time and haven't found what I need yet. There's a Bisbee-set Navajo bracelet online with the most amazing Bisbee I've ever seen, with wispy veils of matrix, but it's $9K so...not today. :)

I just turned up a super link for turquoise images and explanation of types. Browse and enjoy.
http://tucsonturquoise.com/southwest-turquoise/
 
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