Hi I need help identifying what this is and what the materials are. There are no sliver marking except for the letters DC. I bought t it at a charity shop. Thanks
Looks like a Philippine copy of a Zuni bola. The outside border is characteristic of the excess embellishment one often sees with near miss asian copies. As for materials, could be silver but maybe not. Same with the inlay materials which look like turquoise, jet, etc, but could just as well be something else.
Honestly, if it’s asian and it probably is, all bets are off.
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Hi thank you for replying. I have managed to identify who made those
The Zuni artists are Dexter and Eva Cellicion. Not only is their sunfaces recognizable but your piece is signed with their stamp. Dexter passed in 1999 and comes from an incredibly talented family of Brothers who also created beautiful Zuni jewelry with their wives.
Congratulations on your thrift store purchase. It’s not every day one finds something this nice at a bargain.
I’m a little confused. You refer to this item as “those” (there’s only one item), and you are responding to your own post as if you’re someone else answering the question.
your piece is signed
Edit: it appears you were quoting someone else.
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I’m not so sure this is right. I can’t even find a Dexter and Eva Cellicion in Hobart’s hallmark book. There is a Dexter, who was known to work with his wife Rosemary, but no Eva. Plus his hallmark is different. I think the internet is wrong on this attribution.
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I found several pieces with hand scripted signatures only. Nothing DC attributed to them. And I would think they would have signed their work, not what looks to be commercially made hardware.
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Good catches @Ziacat & @StevesTrail . Initial stamps are completely different (non serif vs serif fonts). Zuni silversmiths tend to be extremely consistent in terms of the tools they use and the way they use them, as well as metals gauges, and material preferences. They’re very much oriented toward ultra efficient materials usage and make nearly every repeatable design with their own proprietary templates. This is a strength that allows them to create repeatable handmade jewelry, but also represents a liability in the sense that counterfeiters, and there are now many. can easily reproduce jewelry designs using the same techniques used to make the originals. My stated opinion regarding the origin remains unchanged.
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I’m even puzzled by the Dexter and Eva Cellicion thing. I can’t find anything in Hougart’s or on the Amerindian website regarding Eva, or even much online in general. I suppose Dexter could have remarried a woman named Eva (Hougart’s says his wife is Rosemary), or there could be two Dexters 
, but whatever the case, I don’t believe the OP’s item is made by him.
This piece is by Dexter Cellicion, and to me has a different feel than the OP’s piece.
Sorry, my first link was the wrong one. Corrected 
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sorry, nm and characters
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I see you also posted this on Facebook. Where did you find that Eva is also known as Rosemary (besides AI which is notorious for getting things wrong regarding Native American jewelry)? Truly would like to know. And I’m sorry that you feel we were “aggressive.” We just try to dig and get the truth. I am not aware that artists hallmark the actual bolo findings as vs. the backs of jewelry.
I haven’t found anywhere online that DC is attributed to them as their hallmark; most everything online has it as their engraved names. I wonder if there could be another mark under the bolo finding…
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This! (hallmarking the bennett clip), a hallmark consisting of block letters only, and combined with the “plump” stones (as opposed to smooth/flat) all give me pause. I would not rely on the Cellicion attribution without a LOT of evidence to back it up. Their inlay and design style is more refined than this.
Block letter stamps can be bought and used by anyone.
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