Not bc! VC 
spell check:crazy_face:
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Whew! Rabbit hole for sure! I’ve spent a lot of time on this because I have the same ring and others all stamped H T.C. Case & Co. with the same 3 cloud Hallmark. I’ve searched for the origin of this company and can’t find it & also aware that the 3 could hallmark is Chinese. But, I was told these were NA too, when I purchased. There are currently at least 10 adds on ebay, Etsy, etc. all advertising the same H TC Case & Co. items as Navajo; now I firmly believe that they are “NOT NA” made. Sellers are either not doing their homework or pulling the wool over our eyes by selling items as NA made: it is against the law passed in 1990 per the Indian Arts & Crafts Act of 1990. I’m going to post these for sale but label them made in the Southwestern Style and not Native American made.
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OMG…I’ll be darned! At least yours are in much better condition and readable! And the rings have the same pattern, yet the interior markings are consistent size-wise while mine are Willy-nilly.
Rabbit hole no doubt! I have heard of TC Case and Co but am not familiar with him/them. Don’t know if they were a Southwestern shop so am of no help there. I too saw several marked with what appeared TC case and an H which I presume was the artist.
I do not sell much of my NA jewelry anymore with the exception of rings, mainly because it has taken me so long to collect what I have. Being retired and with insane MS drug costs, my budget doesn’t let me spend like a crazy lady anymore. But I agree with you Southwestern style is your descriptive option in selling.
Seems like there is still more work to be done on stopping counterfeiting in the realm of NA Arts. I’m sure you saw this article, but this is just the tip of the iceberg.https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2018/03/native-american-indian-art-fake-forgery-hopi-zuni0/
Good luck and thank you so much for your response. So glad I wasn’t down the rabbit hole by myself. We are gleaning more and more info!
Terry
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I have collected over 200 mainly turquoise & sterling silver pieces and I’m setting up an e-store & sell most of them… I’m almost there! I’ve been researching & learning about Native American artists, old pawn & vintage pieces for over 2 years & joining this group has been one of the best things I’ve done to understand more. This post/thread is encouraging me to post pics and ask opinions on jewelry that I am stumped on, too. Thanks!
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I think it is a nice ring either way. One way to narrow it down is test the metals to see if they are real . I don’t believe the Chinese would use real precision metals to counterfeit native American jewelry. The stamp could have been used by someone entirely different but real native American. example… I have an absolutely amazing ring , no doubt old and genuine. its stamped HV. Most would assume Homer Vance . So did I. I used Kim messier book who corrected all these unknown homer Vance stamps and she has an example of the real one. HV is listed as unknown Navajo artist. The ring itself is amazing. And no doubt could have been done by any of the legends such as Homer Vance . Long as you enjoy it and you didn’t pay a kings king’s ransom then I wouldn’t worry much on it. The design is genuine, and my collection goes far beyond jewelry and I have saw many very similar designs in artistic mediums. hope this at least helps you enjoy it no matter who made it
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Hi Newby! Interesting you mentioned testing the metal. I don’t have a metal testing kit w/chems as have always been hesitant to use due to damage to item. I also have MS and my hands shake at random, so don’t trust myself to do…LOL…I’d be testing my skin!
However, a person at our local antique gallery purchased one of those high powered electronic testers in October and tested a few pieces for me, including the VC one. It came back as marked, so I was very happy about that. I still don’t know the relation between the VC Mark and TC Case, and probably never will. Like you said, it’s still an interesting ring and I like it for my collection!
Thanks for your input! Terry
Glad my input had some value. It’s a nice ring either way. Long as you are happy. Enjoy it.
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