So I saw this ring and immediately fell in love with it. I think it is the only woman’s ring I’ve ever seen (here in PA) that includes a claw and it is, in my opinion, just beautifully made. I don’t think I read one word of the description, I just bought the ring. After receiving the ring, I was excited to read the long description which included this excerpt,
“HEAVY VERY RARE “BLUE WIND” SPIDERWEB TURQUOISE STERLING SILVER RING, Sz. 9.75; Stamped EH and Little Bert King Trading Shop Hallmark; High Grade Natural SCARCE BLUE WIND TURQUOISE weight: .95oztw; Blue Wind Turquoise is comparable to Lander Blue as both of these turquoises came in limited supply from small “hat mines”. WIDE STERLING SILVER SETTING WITH WIDE BAND; 1 3/4"h X 1 1/4"w; signed EH with early 1970s Little Bert King Trading Shop Mark is a huge Natural High Grade BLUE WIND turquoise sterling silver ring signed EH with along with the Little Bert King Trading Company (Albuquerque, NM) Shop Mark. This ring is set with two very - rare natural spiderweb “Blue Wind Turquoise” cabochons. Tim King of the “Little Bert King Trading Company” Albuquerque, NM purchased much of the original stones from the Lander Blue and Blue Wind mines, both of which were very rare “hat mines” only producing about 100 lbs of turquoise each — making these “two mines” the rarest turquoise on earth.”
So my questions are, is this the the rare blue wind turquoise? Who is/was EH? What kind of value would you put on this ring? Thanks for your valuable input!
Hi there are lots of links below to the Durango Silver Co that is owned by John Hartman. On the last link at the very bottom are it says" If you are into antique southwestern jewelry you will find many old bear claw jewelry pieces with high grade spiderweb Turquoise cabochons from the Blue Wind mine in them. And, if you are a buff on Vintage Turquoise Jewelry, you may have heard of a Navajo Jewelry artisan “John Hoskie” which little is known about, and who made much of this jewelry along with “Ester Hoskie”, well that was the Pen name given to John Hartman by the Little Bert King company. Although it was never stated that Hoskie was Navajo, it probably created that assumption as there are Native American’s with that last name. Estell Hartman his wife was given the pen name “Ester Hartman”. An amazing vintage bolo tie with high grade Blue Wind Spiderweb Turquoise cabochons and bear claws can by John Hartman as “John Hoskie” can be found in the book “Jewel of the Southwest Turquoise - The Nevada Gem Collection” by Annie Osburn."
So it looks like the Hartmans were called Ester Hoskie and John Hoskie had the Pen name Ester Hoskie and John Hoskie (probably as a way to make them sound Native American/Navajo). They bought most of the Blue Wind Turquoise that was available back in the 70s and acquired bear claws at the same time. Also if you look at the Durango site yo can see a lot of similarities on the stamp work between your ring and some of the pendant that have Blue wind in them.
So I would say your ring was make in the 70s by the Hartmans from Blue wind Turquoise. But not Native American made. Anglo made
I remember as a late teenager, maybe early 20s, which would have been the 70s or early 80s, I purchased a bear claw ring for my dad. He is the reason for my love of all things Native American. All the news I’m learning about this ring is just awesome! Thanks to you all!
Already have my eye on something on that one, but have been on a pretty big shopping binge lately, so it’ll be a little while before I can afford to jump on anything new again. I’m guessing maybe this is your shop?
This is the second item I’ve discovered from this group was not Native American made when I thought it was and bought it as such. I have to admit that neither of these two have upset me that they were not Native American made learning the stories that came along with them, especially this rare turquoise!
Turquoise is beautiful and it is especially wonderful to find it in well made unique jewelry regardless of who made it. I agree it doesn’t have to be NA made to be great and the Native American’s have influenced many great artisans. Fortunately with hallmarks it is becoming somewhat easier to ID artists. The story behind this particular piece was especially fun to uncover.
beautiful ring 