Hi all,
I saw a piece that caught my eye today and debated purchasing it because it didn’t seem quite right. Unfortunately no photos to show, wasn’t smart enough to do that. Best of my uninformed description would be what seemed Santo Domingo seafoam turquoise nugget two strand necklace. Turquoise looked good, what bothered me was turquoise heishi between nuggets, (maybe) and then finished with shell heishi to a finely woven sinew type cord. Necklace strands about 24 inches. Would this be normal for Santo Domingo or Navajo or perhaps non-native. I realize without photos it is hard to gauge but looked nice aside from the turquoise between nuggets. Nuggets were not large, maybe 12 mm long. Any thoughts?
Rely on all of you who are have more expertize. Thanks as always if you have any thoughts. Not that familiar with how these necklaces are generally strung.
I have Santo Domingo necklaces that have turquoise heishi but they don’t have turquoise nuggets. That sounds more Navajo. Hard to say without seeing it.
Do you mean like this?
No, this one had very small turquoise heishi between nuggets, same size as shell heishi that was at the end of both strands before the very fine wrap weave. No silver, no clasp, just looked like sinew braided neatly. Thank you for your input, just haven’t been able to find anything like it, looks like it should be Santo Domingo, but those tiny turquoise beads throw me off.
I guess I’m not sure what you mean by very small. I have a short necklace made with very small turquoise heishi which is Santo Domingo but no nuggets. Not all of the necklaces have silver clasps.
I wasn’t thinking when I said it sounded more like Navajo. It’s just I have a couple Navajo necklaces with heishi and nuggets.
Do you trust the person selling it?
Similar, but it was not tied off, very neatly woven or braided and perhaps glued. Found in New England, don’t think seller is well versed in Native American jewelry, price would be in the ballpark if it is legitimate. Just never saw any others constructed like this. Thanks again for the research, next time I will ask to take a picture.
That is similar to what was used past the turquoise prior to the sinew type braided wrap. Wish I had a photo to show. Have friends who are Santo Domingo and pretty familiar with their heishi, this was quite different from all I have seen. Thank you for your attempts at identifying something I can only describe.
We like puzzles! What you’re describing doesn’t sound out of the range of native necklaces, but without seeing it, who knows. But if something seems off, I wouldn’t buy it.