Hello friends! It feels like forever since i hopped on to bask in the collective knowledge of this group! I miss soaking in the knowledge, but life’s been difficult lately and sadly I haven’t had much free time.
Recently I acquired this bolo. It appears to be made by an artist at the Running Bear shop. I have a hunch that someone in this forum may know who the artist “J” is. The stones are gorgeous and the cord has extra doo dads on it. I call them “Charlie Brown” bands bc of the zig zag cut. If you can help a girl out, please chime in! Thank you in advance!
Beautiful Bola! Looks like natural Morenci or possibly Kingman. Your best bet is to get in the touch with Running Bear in Gallup New Mexico with these images and ask who made it for them. I’ll bet they’d be happy to tell you, and there is no better source than the source.
So, the only person I know that had a simple “J” hallmark was Gloria Chavez, Navajo. Why she signed with a J makes absolutely no sense to anyone but, probably herself. I know nothing of her history other than the fact that she seemed to come out of nowhere back in the late 90’s early 2000’s so, the idea of her working in house for someone prior to her going out on her own would add up. She specialized in very LARGE pieces of jewelry and your bolo looks like something she would have made. Here is a cuff I purchased like 25 years ago ( and actually never ever wore) by her with the J stamp.
