Favorite pendants

My second-favorite NA jewelry to collect is pendants, many of which are pin/pendants. Here are a few of my favorites!

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Lovely Zuni pendants and turquoise. Is that a mine 8 on the oval turquoise?

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The green one in the traditional setting? That sounds right, they did tell me. I got it at Cameron, 2018 if I remember.

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I love pendants, especially the Zuni in the center. Is it signed? Thanks for sharing yours!

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It is signed Vera Halusewa, one site I saw said her things are 2015 and older.

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OK, most of these are not pendants, just pins/broaches. I love the workmanship and thought I’d share some of my favorites. I have more, but need a bigger display :smile:

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Oooh, lovely! My mom has a piece that’s perhaps by the same artist as the one in the lower left, a pendant.

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@Bmpdvm Your pins are beautiful!! What a wonderful collection.

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Gorgeous!! So much beautiful turquoise. What a great collection. Do you wear them much?

I only have a few actual pendants, a lot of mine are pins that I wear as pendants, which I’ve already posted in another thread. Eventually I’ll add my “true” pendants :laughing:

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@zicat. Yes I do wear them, especially in cooler weather on denim jacks and vests…in fact, I think there are acouple pins still attached to those in my closet. Certainly can’t wear them all; I just feel an affinity towards well made pins…:blush:

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@tepowell Good for your mom! Mine is unsigned. I’m thinking it is Zuni, it has extremely fine delicate bezelwork. But the cluster pin the next row up, in the middle, is signed Navajo. Both are well done, but always interesting the subtle differences.

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they are all beautiful, thanks for sharing! the one my mom has is a spinner with coral on the other side…I’ll take a closer look when next I see her-

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Gorgeous! Too hard to pick a favorite.

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@tepowell and @Bmpdvm , you both have a gorgeous assortment of pieces! Like @nanc9354 , I would be hard pressed to pick out favourites — the sheer variety and beauty makes that very difficult.

I do have a question. I’ve been able to find the odd pin/pendant—i.e. a brooch with a bail—but it seems pendants are much more common than brooches. Are (were) brooches unpopular? All things being equal, I tend to prefer brooches to pendants as it’s easy to add a brooch-to-pendant converter, but going the other way is not so simple! In general I’m a big fan of brooches because they can be worn so easily on outerwear, especially in cold weather.

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I don’t see people here wearing brooches much. But I am in IN, so that doesn’t necessarily hold for everywhere (and you don’t really see many people here wearing Native American Jewelry, so I’m just talking brooches in general). I don’t wear them because I get frustrated with holes in things from them. And I do wear pendants quite a bit. But that’s just me! It seems like most of the newer Native American brooches I’ve seen have bales on the back.

Most of my outerwear is down coats, and pins don’t do well on those.

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I tend to buy pendants that also happen to be pins, when I do get pins…I don’t really remember seeing a lot of straight up brooches as I shop. I’ve bought almost everything in person vs. online, so I don’t know what might be out there. Half the pendants in my earlier post are also pins (everything without a visible bale!). The sunface I’ve had at least 30 years, so this is a trend (pin/pendant) that I’ve seen as long as I can remember. I don’t wear them as pins much, but I do like the flexibility.

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I’m so glad that the weather is finally cooling so I can wear vests and jackets. I’m in northern Nevada; it gets cold but not like in the northeast. @Ziacat I haven’t had any problems with holes, even in down vests, I do try to be sure the pin goes through the stitching on the quilting (see pictures). Of course I don’t wear them on heavy outer coats. Pin holes Don’t seem to be a problem on denim. But, to be honest, even if I don’t wear them, I just really like the combination of beautiful turquoise and great silverwork in pins/broaches. This is a quilted vest I wear frequently…I switch out pins occasionally.

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Thank you very much for your kind responses, @Ziacat , @tepowell and @Bmpdvm .

@Ziacat , I totally appreciate wanting to avoid leaving holes in clothes. For sure, outerwear brooch opportunities can be limited if you have to be careful of down and leather jackets. I do sometimes wear brooches on fleece jackets and quilted (non-down) vests like @Bmpdvm 's, on hats (where the pins won’t leave holes behind), and occasionally on scarves to hold them in place (again, if the fabric won’t be damaged by that).

@tepowell, pin-pendants are wonderfully versatile and I like buying them, too, when I have the chance. It does seem that straight-up brooches are relatively rare. The flexibility of a pin-pendant really is the best of both worlds.

And @Bmpdvm , it’s great that you are able to wear your brooches on your outerwear. That turquoise pin looks fabulous on that vest!

Mainly I hesitate to wear my brooches as often as I’d like because I am not always confident of the pin catch! I once lost a beloved vintage pin because the catch was faulty, and I didn’t realize it was missing from my hat until it was too late. Probably a trial run – wearing it around home – is the answer :laughing:

P.S. I’d love to find a converter that is pin-to-pendant rather than pendant-to-pin, but no luck yet!

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Good looking pin, @Bmpdvm. I can’t help but notice the furniture with the conchos peeking out in the background. Looks beautiful.

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@Bmpdvm Your pin is a beauty! A terrific & unique design. Great turquoise stone.

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