Information on this cuff bracelet.

I bought this off Ebay about 25 years ago, any information would be appreciated. It has 39 stones.



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Absolutely beautiful, especially the eagle. Looks heavy, maybe 6oz?
Being a real newbie to turquoise, I guess those could be real. Some seem to have blue and green. Would recommend the acetone test, and the hot needle test.
Oh, anyway wanted to ask the experts here … is it very safe to do the acetone test? Might it destroy stabilized real turquise? Might it do harm to the silver?

Could not find the JN hallmark, sorry.
If you don’t like it, I’d buy it right now.

I once swabbed a few of my necklaces with nail polish remover (which I think is acetone :grin:) to see if any color came off (none did), and it didn’t seem to hurt the stones at all, and I believe they are stabilized (mine, not this, I don’t know about it).

Gosh, I have mixed feelings about pieces like this. I’m just not really into the big giant silver eagle/buffalo/wolf/etc, so I really don’t know much about them (and that’s just my personal preference -nothing wrong with them). If I had to guess, I would think that the turquoise is something like Kingman which maybe somewhere along the line had the matrix blackened with shoe polish like they used to do. I could not find the hallmark, so I’m wondering if it’s anglo made. Maybe someone with the big ol’ hallmark book will find it :grin:

Edit: but it also looks Navajo so :person_shrugging:

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I agree @Ziacat: my first thought was the shoe polish treatment

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I’d like to see closeups in sunlight of the stones and the eagal to be able to make a determination. Really love the stamp work and overall look of your cuff.

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The cuff came out of Montana. It’s has been tested for authentic turquoise and is. It is very heavy. My husband seems to recall that it was listed as Navajo.

I appreciate all the feedback. We have just been curious as to the inside of the band.

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Navajo made sounds right. I don’t see many pieces stamped inside, but when you do it’s usually a very special piece. The why of it, don’t know. Enjoyed seeing yours : )

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This is very beautiful, having a similar eagle on it. Unfortunately got sold before I could get a hold of it.

1.8oz, sterling and 12kt gold, $500. I think this was an extremely good price.

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Close up of the eagle.

Beautiful piece, eagles are somewhat similar.

This looks like natural Sleeping Beauty Nugget. Acetone won’t tell you anything further, and a needle test won’t either. You might dissolve whatever they’ve used to color the matrix and the solvent could actually stain the stone with the matrix colorant.

This is a production piece, likely produced in a commercial workshop. The eagle is a lost wax cast finding fairly common in the late 70s through the 90s. There are elements of stamp work that don’t necessarily look Native to my eye. This could be made overseas, and without provenance or a solid match to a shop or personal hallmark, an overseas origin made in a Navajo style with natural turquoise and sterling silver would be my best guess.

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Oh, thanks a ton for that tip. Was thinking about testing all my new turquoise, very happy I did not.
I believe if you guys say it’s original turquoise, natural or stabilized, I’m feeling confident.

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I was thinking along the same lines about the cuff. I had wondered in my original response (and then deleted that part) if the eagle was cast separately, and then added. Would that be the case?

I had also wondered if the turquoise could be SB, but I’m not quite as familiar with that turquoise when it’s in nugget shape; I often confuse it with Kingman. I didn’t even think I owned anything with SB until I joined this site, and learned more about it. It’s an interesting cuff, but I think maybe the things that you said about it are why it’s not the style that I prefer.

Glad to learn about the acetone, also. I had only done it on a couple things years ago to see if they had been dyed.

Would the second cuff with the gold be made in a similar manner?

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I’ve used the acetone test several times…fortunately most were negative. This is a positive test on obviously suspicious turquoise beads (Fox, don’tcha know :woozy_face:):



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lol. Those “Fox” nuggets sure look like dyed Howlite to me. Not sure there’s much you can do to hurt them beyond a hammer test to break one open. Have you tried the “blow torch” test on them?

ETA: I’m teasing :wink:

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One item of note on this bracelet. The gold colored material is not solid 12K Gold as represented, but 1/20 12K Gold Filled, meaning that 1/20 of the content of the the yellow metal is a micro thin layer of 12K Gold, so net/net this material instead of being 50% Gold as represented by 12K, it is no more than 1/40th Gold, and since buffing to a polish removes material, the actual Gold content is likely even less.

Jewelry made this way will often be mis-labeled or sold as 12k Gold rather than 1/20 12K GF. Long story short, you really came out ahead by not buying this one.

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The people here are worth more than any gold!

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