…'Cause he wasn’t wearing them!
The repousse bracelet was found in his mother’s things after she died. We don’t know anything about it. She was from Isleta Pueblo. She had a mixed assortment of Native jewelry, lots of different styles, but nothing really great. No marks at all.
Is it old? Is it new? I can’t say for sure.
And this bracelet was purchased years ago from a yard sale for $10.
It sure looks like Bruce Morgan’s style, but it is marked JM. Another Morgan family member?
Can you share a pic of the inside surface of the shank of the vintage silver with repousse cuff? It’s got a great look to it and could be an early one, esp. if the silver is right and the repousse is hand worked. Would also like to know its gram weight.
@chicfarmer@StevesTrail
Here are more pictures. I really don’t know much about this style of jewelry.
It definitely looks hand worked.
The two domed areas near the opening of the cuff are worn through. From wear, I’m supposing. It weighs 22 grams.
@Stracci Well, that suject line caught my attention, lol. Nice cuffs & a classic turquoise ring. Fingers crossed that the repousse cuff is an early piece.
Thanks for the heads up, @StevesTrail. The bracelet does look quite old to me, in terms of the style of the work, the nature of the handmade stamps and irregular texture and porosity of the silver itself which suggests it was first cast into and ingot, and worked with a hammer to flatten it out, rather than being made from store bought milled sheet. The markings could have been scratched in at any time, so no ideas at all there.
Really pretty piece and a real keeper.
The straight line stamping in Stracci’s other bracelet has been a traditional technique in Navajo, and other ethnic silver work for centuries. We have used it in the shop ourselves since the 80s in different variations and sizes. When Bruce uses these patterns, he typically eyeballs the stamping, and they’re typically much tighter with less spacing between the stamps, so I don’t think the silversmith is necessarily related to Bruce in any way. I will remark that the spacing is very precise and straight, so whoever made it likely used a divider, and ruler first to mark off stamping segments. Very nice work.
Thanks for your input, @mmrogers, and your assessment of the cuffs.
I’m glad to hear that the wide one has some age on it!
I wish mother-in- law was here, so I could ask her about it!
I like them both, and will put them in rotation right away.
I had a similar bracelet marked K&M Bill, a hefty 73g-a beautiful piece for a very large wrist, reminds me of yours, @stracci! Both your bracelets are beautiful
Nice haul from your hubby; mine won’t wear any jewelry except for a very thin gold wedding band.
It’s extra special that your lovely cuff was your mother-in-law’s. And I like your chunky ring. I would have also possibly guessed SB, but I have a Kingman stone that looks a lot like it. Sometimes I have a hard time telling those two apart.
That repousse cuff looks like classic Edison Sandy Smith work. I have seen him forget to hallmark is work on number of occasions. edison sandy smith bracelet - Google Search
Style is certainly similar, but take a look at roughness of the chased repousse, and a couple of the areas where the silver in the bump outs has actually worn through from overworking. This doesn’t look like the same hand or period to me, Jason
You definitely get a coin silver feel from a close inspection of that back side where you are talking about being overworked. But, those stamp designs say Edison. I imagine he started this style late 1990s for his Japanese customers.
Do you remember how long ago she wore it? That might help Jason figure it out since he said that artist started making those designs in the '90s (if I understood that correctly).
@Ziacat
We have no idea when she got it.
My husband does not recall her ever wearing it.
She did have these other older bracelets, though.
They belonged to her mother, my husband’s grandmother.
The older cuff should definitely be in the rotation.
