Have seen a great deal of this jewelry over the years, on both sides of the Atlantic. Sadly, it is what it is.
Freeland’s shop produced massive amounts of imitation Native American jewelry, and turquoise carvings over the years, in Navajo, Zuni, and inlay styles, and used many, many, different hallmarks.
After Freeland blazed the trail, many other producers followed suit, and began producing massive amounts of jewelry overseas. This has gone on, and on, and on for decades. Hundreds of millions of dollars of this merchandise remains in circulation on the primary and secondary markets, and it continues to be imported and misrepresented here in the US, and thoughout markets world wide.
Here’s a brief snapshot of just one investigation, which unfortunately failed to have much of an impact.
). We visited him in '21,and I was wanting to shop for jewelry, which made him really concerned that I would buy something fake. He said the first case (I think it was just tying up loose ends) he worked on there was involving fake Native American jewelry. I doubt it was this one, because I think it was finished before he arrived in ABQ, but I’m not sure; I’ll have to ask him more next time I see him, which should be soon.