I’ve been drumming my brain with this one for a few days, nothing online or in billie hougart book! Anyone got any ideas? Is it NA? Or import?
Import. See “Sterling Islands” Phillipines. Company has likely changed its name by now.
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I thought so, be some one gave me a little bit of hope, I appreciate the help mate
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My pleasure. There are several tells. The components are probably cast and likely assembled from bins with setting base, shank, and bezel cup assembled and soldered together in a production setting. The inlaid cab is likewise dropped in from a bin or tray of 10s to 100’s of identicaly made items. The rounded edges on the back of setting itself are characteristic of machine mass (tumble) finishing. It was assembled by hand, and probably done very quickly judging by the way the setting was attached diagonally rather than than at a 90 degree angle to the shank. The company which made this likely has and is probably producing millions of dollars in counterfeit “Indian Jewelry” in Asia every year.
If the meteoric increase in precious metals prices has any positive effect at all in the the Native American jewelry space, it will be in the vastly higher ratio of materials to labor in the counterfeit merchandise, largely eclipsing the competitive advantage the counterfeiters have enjoyed for decades now. Hopefully this paired with heavy tariffs will help shut some of these criminal operations down.
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