Hi, I’m new and know little about turquoise jewelry. I have a pair of earrings with threaded posts and screw back clutch which makes me curious about the decade the earrings were created. My internet search for other examples of turquoise earrings with this clasp design brings up the type of clasp that’s attached to the earrings. I did find one example labeled as being created during the Fred Harvey era and a quick internet search showed the Harvey era as 1900-1955 which is too broad for my curiosity. What I know is that the threaded posts era began late 1800’s and is still used in 2025 although the style is few and far between due to lack of convenience and comfort. So is there anything about the construction of the earrings that might suggest a probable decade? The only mark, as far as I can tell, is “sterling” on the clutches.
A secondary curiosity came about during my attempt to research the age. I saw many examples of the same turquoise design being attributed to both Zuni and Navajo and I’m wondering what subtle differences I’m missing that distinguishes them? Thank you in advance for any insight. The earring’s turquoise design may be common but I really love them a lot, especially the randomness of blue and green turquoise.
@Pennysails Hi & Welcome. Hmm, an interesting pair of earrings. In my own experience, I don’t recall seeing either Native American or Mexican earrings before with threaded posts and that type of clutch. I’m just gonna put this on the table: maybe the threaded posts & clutches aren’t original to the earrings. Maybe an owner had them converted from a straight post to a threaded one to help insure they wouldn’t lose an earring 
. Just my thoughts.
I’m going to agree with @Patina about the backs. I’ve never seen any like that on Native jewelry, and I had the backs changed on 2 of my mom’s old earrings (from the 40’s - they had screw backs), and I think that often happens.
It can sometimes be hard to tell in cluster work between Zuni and Navajo. In general Navajo silver tends to be heavier, and my understanding is Zuni artists prefer stones with less matrix. Unfortunately this doesn’t help a lot with your smaller earrings. If there was a hallmark then you probably could figure it out, but many of the older pieces don’t have hallmarks, and you couldn’t see it anyway behind those backs.
They are beautiful earrings, so I would just enjoy them, and understand that you may never know the answer to that question. And I agree with you; I love seeing the different shades of turquoise. You may know this, but that happens from the earrings being handled, because the oils from our skin can penetrate the turquoise changing the color. That shows that it’s natural turquoise, and also means to me that they’ve been well loved!
Welcome to Turquoise People!