Beautiful Morenci Turquoise Squash Blossom SET

Hello,

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?

From my research, it looks like 1950s era Morenci mining product with the deeper blue, lack of quartz annd spiderwebbing, with flecks of pyrite. It also seems that around that time the Zuni and Santo Domingo tribes had the first uncut stones through trading with William “Lucky” Brown who was offered the rights to the mine in the 50s.

Can you lovely people let me know if this theory is correct? Any other fun information would be cool! I’m a teacher, so I love learning new things!

Also, would anyone know if there should be a matching ring?




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@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.

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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 :person_shrugging:

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!

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Welcome to the forum. How kind of your MIL to leave this to you. It is very nice gesture and a lovely set.

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I can find nothing that looks like an intentional mark or signature, which is disconcerting.

Photos of the backs of the pieces:


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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.

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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? :rofl:

My guess would be 70’s for this squash.

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