This is unmarked. Presume it is of shonr/shell construction.
Any help appreciated.
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There is a topic on this that has already been covered. https://forum.turquoisepeople.com/t/what-makes-a-fetish-necklace-valuable
Looks like a knock off to me, but I will defer to those with greater zuni knowledge.
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I, too, believe this to be an import, due to the use of pen shell heishe, the spread eagle bird at the bottom, and the appearance of the other fetishes which just don’t look right for Zuni hand carved to me. The eagle also looks to be some sort of compressed stone? The thread that Christibo posted with the info from The Keshi Foundation has a lot of useful information.
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When in lived in Chinle, AZ, in the 80’s, many Navajos were using pen shell, olive shell, turquoise and other types of heishe for fetish necklaces.
Some of the fetishes were imported.
The big question for me: If an item utilizes imported fetishes/heishe, but is Native American made, is it considered Native American or an import?
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The terms “handmade” and “handcrafted” have been used, with some confusion, to make this distinction. Assembled by hand from pre-fabricated parts versus made by hand from scratch, although I’m pretty sure I’ve heard differing definitions of which word means which. Of course, this doesn’t address where it’s handmade vs. handcrafted, or who made it. But imports would in most cases be machine fabricated parts. To me the important aspect of Native American jewelry is that a Native artist hand makes the item from start to finish. The artisanship of heishe is in cutting and drilling the stones and hand rolling them smooth, not stringing them. The art of fetishes is in carving them by hand. So to me necklaces made of imported parts would not be considered Native American art.
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I also think this could be an import. The animals that are the same colors look to be identical. This would indicate to me that they were manufactured vs hand carved.
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