In the past I have always resold any screw back earrings that I buy. But I just can’t stand to let these two pair go. The round green turquoise is antique Mexico (I am not 100% they are turquoise). The others I assume are Native American. My question is do any of you have screw back earrings. I would love to see them!
Also how do you wear them. I mean that literally. How tight do you screw the on? Have you ever lost one? Do they come loose as the day goes on?
Finally do you convert them to post backs? Would these be a good candidate for conversion?
I’ve bought a couple pairs and had them converted. I’ve tried them on as screw backs and I just don’t think I could wear them that way, but that won’t stop me from buying them. If you get a jeweler that knows what they are doing with NA jewelry it’s pretty straightforward (may require a laser solder though depending on the earrings).
Your starburst pair definitely looks Zuni. They are very nice, probably 1950’s, natural turquoise stones, hand made bezels. Definitely worth getting converted.
Creating a post from the screwback is possible. However, I have found when bending to form the post from screwbacks as in your photo, the solder joint is often weak and the piece just peels or pops right off the earring. Then to welding a real post.
I have left some as is and converted some.
My conversions were primitive. I just filed off the disk on the end and then screwed them through the hole in my ear lob. These were earrings I wanted to keep to wear.
They work great.
Since there are stones in front I believe soldering can’t be used, so it is possible cut the back off and use jewelers glue to attach pierced earring backs. It will affect the value of the piece. With sterling pieces without stones I have used a jeweler to convert.
If you’re keeping them, I would definitely make the change, and have someplace like Perry Null do it. Really, really pretty earrings! I inherited 3 pairs from my mom that I switched to posts (two are Navajo, other is Mexican). I only have a picture of one pair. She got them in 1945 or ‘46. I tried to wear them as screw backs, and not only were they horrible to get on, but when I did, it didn’t take long for them to really hurt. I personally wouldn’t buy any, because for me it’s a hassle to send them out (plus many are too heavy for me anyway). However, I would never have anyone here fix them; only someone experienced in fixing Native jewelry.
I think it depends on if they’re clip or screw-back. I’ve found that there are still buyers for clips, but not screw-back. I’ve had several pairs converted by my fabulous local jeweler. Jon is not Native American, but before opening his own shop, he worked for years in a shop that sold and sized & repaired NA jewelry. He loves turquoise and Native American jewelry, and is a wizard with silver/ gold. The first photo is a piece he made for me using my Kingman turquoise cabs, the next two are his own designs:
@sjs, With single or a couple cabs, a jeweler can simply remove the cab(s), do the soldering then replace the cabs. Zuni petite point, needle point, etc are a different story! Before the days of laser, my jeweler did this on multiple pieces for me with excellent results.
I got my ears pierced in the 1960s. as a teenager. It was only in the late 60s that pierced earrings came back in to fashion. From the 1900s to 1950s pierced earrings were seen as old fashioned. I think these older native american screw back earrings were well made like most craftsman made early pieces.
I’m with @fernwood in that the conversions that I’ve done to change the clips over to pierced have been extremely primitive. I just sawed off the clip part and glued on a new pierced back, but this would be heresy on nice or valuable pieces, I’ve only done that on cheaper stuff or costume jewelry. I’ve got a manufacturing jeweler in town that does good work, but would not be knowledgeable in the Native American styles. Since I’ve never been interested in reselling anything of mine, I don’t really mind using that jeweler to make repairs to the back of the piece.
@chris sorry for the delay but I wanted to share a few examples of conversions I’ve had done.
These were screw backs when I purchased them. I had a jeweler take the wire from the existing screw mechanism and bend it straight into a post, then file it down. The jeweler didn’t have a laser solder so this avoided the need for any soldering, which would have required removing and resetting the stones. Unfortunately I don’t have a “before” picture but I think it worked out quite well:
These I actually bought as is, but they had clearly been converted at some point. It’s pretty common to see earrings converted in this style. Perhaps someone with more technical knowledge than me can weigh in, but I believe this is either done using cold solder or glue, so that it also can be done with the stones in place without damaging them. It looks a little sloppy and I would not have it done this way if I were getting them converted myself, but honestly it works fine and can’t be seen when worn:
Mine, I do cut the Screw and use them as pierced, with a plastic stopper, I do tide them up with the stopper, because are little heavy they will try to move down, but with the stopper they stay nice, I save the screw’s for melting silver and sell them as sterling to melt down.
When you remove the mark, “Normally are on the Post-from Screw on, loose the value because is important to keep the mark on… I just cut the part screw, and use a stopper plastic, to keep them on place on my earlobe.
hope this help to keep the Heritage of Antique Jewelry.
Fabulous petit point earrings @Patina. Your little thunderbirds have knifewing (sans legs🥴) relatives. They’re screwback; I’ve considered coverting these off and on, but they’re so tiny. The only way would be using laser since they’re only about 1.75 cm long!
