Jason mentioned a few new parts were added on. The hook and an eye and a few beads. Can you please point out which eye and beads? And how old do you guess this might be? Thanks!
The squatty ribbed beads at both ends, directly following the hook and eye findings, are imports (SE Asian) and possibly plated or low-grade silver. The photography is murky at the closure, making it hard to see if other round beads at the end also might be later additions.
Can you add photos of the reverse side, with detail on the blossoms and naja? That might be helpful for dating. And do you have a gram weight?
Can you be more specific? I would like to try that on mine !
If you have gas burners or furnace, hang it nearby and those gas fumes may help to darken. DO NOT expose it to any heat sources.
I followed the steps described in this video (at least, I think this was the one I used):
One thing, we’re talking here about items made of silver only. Don’t put any jewellery with turquoise in the bag or container… or indeed any gem that’s not water- or moisture -safe. I’ve only done this once with a silver item (a sterling pendant), and it worked fine, but I’d avoid doing it with anything with gems/elements that aren’t silver.
Thank you so much! I have attached a few pictures. Since it’s allowed to add 5 pictures I split them up in two replies! Could you tell the age of it? Like a general range. 60s 70s? If new parts added to it, would it still be worth it? Would it still considered authentic ? My questions are probably silly! I’m just very ignorant about this.
I think by weight it’s about 138g.
The catch does’nt look old. Looks Asian. Doesn’t mean the rest of the piece isn’t authentic, it just means that someone may have restrung it at some point
What’s “catch”? What does it mean by restrung? I’m from China. Could you explain to me?
What is “ the eye” of the necklace?
The catch is the piece at the end of the necklace to close it; it consists of a “hook” and “eye” which fit together (hook goes through the eye) - the curved end and the circular end. Restrung simply means that somebody put the necklace on a new cord, because it was probably getting worn out, and they didn’t want it to break. I hope that helps!
China is a long way away! I’m glad you’re learning to love Native American jewelry.
Thank you so so much!! I appreciate you took time and explained all this to me! I LOVE Native American jewelry! I’m excited to learn from you all!
So the one I m having is silver not sterling silver?is it normal to feel a gentle pull when I use magnet to test it?
A lot of refined metals contain impurities. I’ve x-rayed gold and silver jewelry that contain iron, iridium, palladium, lead, etc. The new rare earth magnets can elicit pull from precious metal jewelry if it contains magnetic impurities. I see a lot more impurities in the Chinese jewelry so as people like me scrap it those impurities get recycled since it is too cost prohibitive to eliminate it all in the refining process. What is interesting is I rarely detect impurities in antique jewelry, just gold, silver, and copper.
It’s also an economic issue. Years ago I read that the FDA allowed about 112 insect fragments per pound of chocolate. When you are making thousands of pound of anything, adding a cheap ingredient to replace a more expensive ingredient increases profits.
Thank you very much!
As @StevesTrail has suggested Silver Black is an excellent oxidizer, but direct exposure of the stones to this compound will contaminate and discolor the natural turquoise.
This is not a DIY project by any means, and restoration of a natural looking patina should be done by an expert with the stones removed from the settings, and re-set after the oxidizing/polishing work is completed.
Like any other type of quality work performed by professionals, creating a natural looking patina finish is time consuming and somewhat costly. @Jason can advise you if you’re interested in having this done.
Thanks for the words of caution @mmrogers . Definitely great advice for those not accustomed to working with such chemicals.