I inherited this gorgeous set from my mother-in-law, and was hoping anyone could for sure tell me this is Morenci Turquoise, and if anyone has an idea about the maker/tribe?
@Lomo.Photo Welcome! That’s a beautiful set of turquoise jewelry. Are there any hallmarks/names on any of these pieces? If yes, could you please post a photo of those hallmarks.
Beautiful!! I believe it’s Navajo. Minus a hallmark, finding the maker will be difficult. There very well could have been a matching ring, but now
The truth is, we can make guesses about the turquoise mine being Morenci (or whatever), but without provenance there’s no way of knowing 100%. The presence of pyrite is often a good indication of Kingman or Morenci.
Welcome to Turquoise People! You opened with a bang!
I wouldn’t see that as disconcerting; I have quite a few items with no hallmark. Could just mean it’s older. But you probably need a hallmark to know who made it. Some of my favorite pieces of jewelry have no hallmark.
I hope someone else jumps in, because I can never tell if the beads are handmade or not.
Beads don’t appear to be handmade but we need better, closer pictures of the beads, preferably in natural light. From these pictures they appear to be typical bench beads.
Agree with @Ziacat that we can’t tell you “for sure” if it’s Morenci or any other turquoise. Do you have any provenance pointing to Morenci, or is that just your guess based on the appearance of the stones? To me, the stones do not particularly remind me of Morenci. When in doubt, Kingman is always a good guess, right @Ziacat?
Hallmarks were first used for Southwestern Artisans for 2 years by a U.S Government program 1928 and 1929. This was in hopes to identify what was authentic and what was not at that time. There were a lot of FAKES coming in from China already by then.
About the mid 60’s many artisans began to hallmark there products but not all. It is safe to say that between 1930 and the mid 60’s unless you knew the artisan or that that seller was reputable you couldn’t determine if it was a Native Indian artisan or fakes.
It almost takes an expert in southwest silversmiths and Turquoise to give a qualified estimate.
I have one very similar in design as the one you have shared pictures. The one I possess doesn’t have a hallmark either. I do know it was already used prior to my Mother getting it in 1982. My guess is this one is prior to 70’s or earlier like the one I have.
That’s not my squash blossom. I was simply trying to help the OP. And I do understand that there are a lot of fakes, but I only buy from reputable dealers or the artists themselves.
