This pendant came into my possession recently, I was really drawn to the “clown” imagery. It is a manufactured piece though. I’d like to know more about it… There is one listing on eBay that calls it “rare” and gives zero info about it. That, and I highly doubt a manufactured piece can be considered rare?
Is it even worth putting a price tag on it and putting it in the shop? Or is it scrap silver?
I would do a little research on this one. You might ask Blue Rain Gallery? in Santa Fe. They seem to carry Kathleen Wall pottery and she is very popular. She is known for her clowns. Maybe this was a piece created to promote one of her shows. It must be her design. I would put a price tag on this. Thanks for sharing.
I agree with Jason, there is value there. Not sure it would be what is on Ebay though. I have run into this hallmark many times and have found that it is from the company below. I have also had confirmation that these were sold on QVC. You could always call them, but they only ever gave me their retail prices.
Waldeck Jewelers Inc
1557 Archuleta Dr Ne
Albuquerque, NM 87112-4890
(505) 298-3916
Thanks guys, I found Kathleen’s website, and I sent her a message on their asking for any addition info. Hopefully she responds!
This particular piece is called “Joyful Smile”. I have the companion cuff.
There is also a companion cuff up for sale on eBay. They are asking
$390 O.B.O., which I think is a bit steep. Also there is one listed on
Etsy for $275 … more reasonable. The one in my posession will be
going up on eBay today, so there will actually be two listed (this doesn’t
happen often). These pieces are pretty rare, even though they were
produced in a batch. Judging by the texture on the back of these pieces,
they were sand casted and then inlayed with red sea corral and jet. You
will see a lot of people refering to the black stone inlay as onyx, but
Natives really never inlay with onyx. They use jet, which is a native
resource in their surroundings. One very neat aspect of these is
that the inlay makes them “metajewelry” (kind of like metafiction) …
the figure on the cuff is wearing a similarly inlayed cuff. These
pieces are definitely Art, definitely not Scrap.
Kathleen is Pueblo (specifically, Jemez Pueblo).
the whole bit about it being sold on QVC is what makes me feel like it’s scrap, you know? I almost equate it wit Carolyn Pollack’s jewelry. I think I will give them a call if Wall doesn’t respond. I guess I’d be curious to see how many were produced.
Thank you for your response! That was everything I’ve been looking for. It’s always hard to tell the difference between onyx & jet when they the stone is polished to such a bright sheen.
Hello-
I have actually done some more research and now am thinking that the black stone inlay is Onyx. I’m sorry that I may have misled. I had thought that jet is hard like a petrified wood, but it is actially softer, like coal, Because of this, it is not used a lot in “stone cluster” jewelry and jewelry, in general. I actually revised my eBay auction to state that it is Onyx. If you Google “Joyful Smile Kathleen Wall”, pretty much everyone is saying it is Onyx. I would love to know for sure if you hear from Kathleen though! Hereis a link that made me change my mind on it:
Thanks!
