The first I always assumed was machine made and Mexican. I bought it ages ago and wore it often to work. The bees are perfect with no visible seams. I bought it at a thrift store and I’m absolutely sure I got my 10 bucks out of it.
The second one I believe is Ray Tracy Knifewing because I have found matching sets and etching inlay but I can’t find any Maker’s Mark. I I’m not sure if that means it was handmade in a studio by people who worked for that company or exactly what that means but I’m keeping my eye out for the right set of earrings with matching inlay, for a great price. I bought it at a charity shop knowing nothing because I liked it. I wear it sometimes at work.
Number three and number four. I bought it a consignment shop that recently opened in my town. I wear number three with the small discs and the melon beads at least twice a week to work and number four is brand new to me. I know enough about silversmithing to understand that number three is just exquisite but I can’t find any Maker’s marks on it. I see tiny little file marks on the outsides of the discs and it’s so nicely placed on the little chain. I just love it!.
Number four is the one I really have a lot of questions about. I tried to take good pictures. My questions are really about whether these are hand stamped or machine stamped and then they are hand domed or if they are “bench beads”. I see little blobs of solder in a couple places and it looks like a couple places have been filed but not much and not all of them.
Can any of you experts tell me a little bit more about what I purchased in these last two necklaces?
I understand it would be better to purchase from a knowledgeable dealer, but there’s nowhere like that for hundreds of miles around me. I’m planning to take my second trip to Arizona and New Mexico at the end of February. In the trip I’m planning to buy something directly from some artists, like I did last year.
This was a helpful thread to me, because even though I have seen a lot of Navajo beads, and have a couple strings, I still struggle figuring them out sometimes. And yes, we need your pics
How exciting that you get to head back out there soon! Hopefully you will share with us your purchases
I would like to add that in the thread I linked I posted a couple of mine, and I now believe they both are handmade. When I looked with a magnifying glass I was able to find file small file marks all around the seams. That is something that has been helpful to me. But we are looking forward to seeing your Navajo beads!
Thank you. I enjoy everyone’s photos here so much. I am trying to add my own for the next person to enjoy and learn from. Taking the photos is very challenging to me. That made it super silly I forgot to add them to my post. Thanks for letting me know.
I hope someone more knowledgeable jumps in, because Navajo beads can confuse me. But I agree with you on necklace #1 partly due to the unusual clasp. I don’t know on #2 (what a cool necklace!), but I would guess #3 is handmade - love that one!! I would also wear it a lot. #4 maybe is machine made (or partly machine made)? The pronounced seam makes me think that. But I could of course be completely wrong!
That seam making a ridge is what makes me wonder too, but every time I think that that’s what makes the difference I see one that has a ridge like that and it says it’s handmade. Seems like if the only thing we were looking for was the ridge that would be really easy to tell them apart.
I also see some disagreement on whether buying pre-cut or drill discs makes it benchmade or only if they’re already domed when someone buys them is the cutoff for benchmade.
Has anyone ever seen a photo of an old catalog showing the half beads? I would love to see that too.
