I just received this necklace from my mom. She purchased it when traveling through the Southwest. She can’t remember exactly where, but it was in the 1970s or 80s. Neither of us knows anything about Native American jewelry, so we wanted to learn more about it. And it is perfectly okay to tell me it is souvenir-store schlock! However, it does have a mark, which I traced over in picture 4 to perhaps help identify the maker. It looks like an upside-down V, then a V, with a line under both. I have done a cursory online search but could not find this mark. Any thoughts, ideas or hints would be appreciated. Thank you!
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know very few things about native American jewelry but it seems have wonderful spider web turquoise. the stone looks genuine to me and if it is American turquoise, it is in pretty high grade.
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My mom has said this might actually be earlier than she thought – perhaps as early as the 1960s.
I would say 1970’s is about right for this piece. Might even be made in the 80’s. The machined beads and workmanship on the Naja are indicative of this. It’s a Navajo piece; The turquoise is very unusual and high grade, Jason will have to weigh in on the mine. Lone Mountain Turquoise would have been my best guess, but the color isn’t right in my opinion. This squash blossom even fits into the period that the turquoise might not be American. Are there flecks of gold pyrite in the turquoise? That would help identify the mine more accurately.
the turquoise looks more like Hubei indeed. I’ve seen a lot Hubei turquoise very similar to this.
Bigbree43, I am not seeing any evidence of gold pyrite in the stones.
My mom says she knows it’s not from the 1980s – she went on the Southwest trip with my dad, and they were separated by 1982. So definitely 1970s or even 1960s. I trust your opinion of 1970s, as I know so little about this! And I figured the beads had to be machine made as you say. So anything we can crowd-think about the turquoise and the mark would be much appreciated – I’m especially curious about the mark!
Thank you all so much for your comments–
I couldn’t find anything on the mark, You might try taking the picture of the turquoise outside in a natural light.
Jason-- I will & thanks for the suggestion.