In my seemingly never ending quest to find an authentic NA fetish necklace, I come back to you for more help. I have read advice on how to tell the real thing but even though this piece has some of the attributes, like shell heishi and animals that were popular in native carvings, I still have doubts. As far as I can see it is not signed. I am attracted to the monochromatic color scheme. Is that unusual for a Zuni or Pueblo nacklace? As always, I would be most appreciative of your thoughts and opinions. Thanks in advance!
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Welcome! that’s a tough call, one of the photos is pretty blurry. in my non-expert condition, and based on the thready-look of what matrix i can see and the overall exact uniformity of color, i would say these are likely block, or dyed howlite/magnesite.
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I agree - not turquoise
Any thoughts on the fetish necklace?
I by no means consider myself an expert on Zuni fetish necklaces but I’m not seeing any obvious red flags here. I’d also be interested in hearing the opinions of others. (Agree that the turquoise above is fake)
Hi! One thing that I am wondering about is the size of the heishi. It seems rather large compared to most I’ve seen that are said to be authentic. You think so?
Do you mean in diameter/thickness? Without a reference item in the picture like a coin it’s a little hard to get a true scale of it, but it looks like pretty standard melon shell heishe to me.
I meant diameter. Luckily I found a couple more pictures, one with a scale (out of focus I know) and a close up of the fetishes. Now that I see te necklace to scale it doesn’t look as out of proportion as before. I’m glad you identified the heishi shell. You are already ahead of me! The animals, I’m guessing, may be jet and shell, but the brown and green stones are not familiar to me. I’ve got a lot to learn, Thank You for helping!
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The brown looks like pipestone, or catlinite.
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Thank you Jemez. Do you happen to know if the stone is commonly used in NA fetish jewelry?
Orbit, did you see the new pics?
I did! I’m sorry, but I think we may have reached the limit of my knowledge on fetish necklaces. I’m not sure if this one is authentic Zuni or not and I wouldn’t want to lead you astray. One more thing I will say: I have seen color schemes similar to this one in genuine Zuni fetish necklaces, so I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily unusual as you asked above.
Thank you for all of your help! I’m going to do a little more digging before I make a decision.
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