Hello! I’m hoping someone could help me identify this beautiful necklace I discovered in a bag of thrift store jewelry I recently purchased. Thanks!
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To me this looks like a stringer’s creation rather than something by a particular Native artist. During the 70’s when the popularity of “Indian Jewelry” was at an absolute viral apex, there were thousands of individuals of every imaginable background buying strands of the types of components making up your necklace, and assembling the various elements into strung necklaces like yours.
The trading company I worked for in Gallup at the time used to import buckets full of Heishi strands from the Philippines, and buy buckets full of drilled nuggets, and other components from domestic sources, and employed a dozen or so ‘stringers’ to assemble the items into items like the one you’ve posted. There were hundreds of shops and thousand of individuals doing this at that time.
While it’s likely not the work of a known artist, your necklace does represent a real piece of history from that time, containing drilled Kingman nugget, Mediterranean coral, silver bench beads, and hand rolled Heishi. Very attractive!
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Thank you very much for this information! I will wear it with pride knowing what it represents!
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