Brand new here, and to NA jewelry

Hi
I wasn’t sure where to post this, or even how to use this forum! I hope I am doing it properly.
I needed help deciding whether to purchase a piece, but I did it anyway, it is WAY beautiful and definitely quality craftmanship. No surprise, now I need help identifying the piece.
It is a beautiful Navajo made bear claw/squashblossom/turquoise sterling necklace. It is HUGE, weighs in at 453 grams. My jeweler estimates it to be from the late 1930s to early 1940s. It is hallmarked by the maker ED, with those initials being spelled out in broken dots. I know a picture is worth a 1000 words, and I am dying to show it to you, but I am not quite sure how?
My only hesitation was the turquoise, which my jeweler insists is completely natural but has pits, which he says is someting you want too see with a piece from that period. I don’t know about that, not having much experience with turquoise. From my research it looks similar to Stone Mountain turquoise. I finally decided that the silver alone was so quality handcrafted, I just HAD to have it. My jeweler estimates the value at $2000, and get this, the previous owner said he had it custom made right on the reservation (didn’t say WHICH one) for $10,000-which I don’t believe for a minute, but the value doesn’t matter because I have no intention of selling it. In fact, I fear it sparked a whole new collecting interest…
I would appreciate any help you can offer, especially on how to post photos.
Thanks

Lotus

I think I figured it out. Kinda:)


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I moved a post to a new topic: New here… how do I upload photos?

It’s not Stone Mountain Turquoise, but I agree with the man who told you about the pits, being a good indicator. Those pits do help indicate natural stones. if you were to take a loupe and magnify the stone surface you should see definite separation between matrix and stone. When stones are treated the that division tends to meld together and the pits are filled up with the stabilization solution. If you want to compare further Stone Mountain with the stones in this piece click here

Stunning. A Big City Jeweler would ask 4 to 6999., far above 2000. 10,000 is ludicrous however, yes., wise of you. You mentioned the silverwork is very well done, it is…but most interesting to me is the combined Bear claws, near gem quality stones and silver work, make for a stunning Neaclace. Hard to think of it as a Squash Blossom as none appear on it, this deserves a category all it own. Very lovely. Hope your collections coming along, for many people this one work would be the highpoint of a collection. Need any help I’m fairly knowledgeable. Regards, Bartleby.

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I can’t add to the technicalities of this conversation but I have to say this is probably the most beautiful NA necklace I have ever seen. You must be very proud of it