I recently acquired this squash blossom necklace and the seller unfortunately had purchased it on eBay a decade before and couldn’t remember anything about it. I had a few questions and thoughts and was looking for feedback from the wisened wizards of this wonderful forum.
I have an image gallery here: Squash blossom - Album on Imgur
There is no visible hallmark stamp anywhere but there is a very old grease pencil mark: PB and what looks like it might be a date or value (69.00 is my guess based on tarnish, but it’s worn off over the years). I looked up PB artists and came up dry, but on a hunch thought I’d try BP, my thinking being if it was taken in for pawn they might have marked it by last name first. I know the lack of hallmark also points towards an older piece.
I found a Navajo artist named Benny Pinto who was making jewelry during that time period. I found two other necklaces believed to be by Pinto and they had similar construction in terms of cabochon-mounted turquoise surrounded by silver rope and then surrounded by stamps. The construction of the beads and shape of the squash blossoms is also very similar to my eye, but it looks like my necklace is less refined and potentially earlier in his career.
I realize that without a hallmark there’s no way to be certain on the ID, but it was a fun Sherlock Holmes thought experiment anyway.
My questions are this:
- Any guesses as to how old this necklace is based on construction, particularly the shape of the beads which look to me to be handmade?
- Will I significantly harm the value if I clean the tarnish off it and do a mild polishing with a cloth? It doesn’t look to me like it’s ever been cleaned. In area where there was solder there is a little bit of green oxidation of some kind, maybe from rosin?
- What is the proper name for the round beads? Are they called desert pearls?
- The turquoise looks to me potentially like Kingman or Fox, based on color and matrix. Any thoughts?
I am not sure whether I will ever wear this necklace. I bought it in remembrance of my mom, who worked at the Wheelwright Museum back in the early 80s and passed away when I was in high school. She frequently wore a squash blossom necklace and it holds strong associations for me. I’m a white man in my 50s who never wore jewelry, so not sure what the current view is on whether it’s appropriate or not.
Thanks you for all your thoughts.