Sweet little “old pawn” ring…?

Bought at auction with the intent to resell in my shop. But I know rings are a dime a dozen. I thought this dainty one might be more. Is that even a maker’s mark? It’s sweet, anyway. Any ideas about maker/turquoise/value?
Thanks!




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Do you mean “old pawn”? It’s just a vintage ring (if it wasn’t actually pawned). Sweet. Not a hallmark.

You could browse Sold items on eBay for comparables. In my area this ring would be about $25 asking price. Small rings always go for less than larger ones.

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Oops! Autocorrect strikes again!! Yes PAWN lol

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No way to know if something has actually been pawned unless it has a pawn ticket. Even then that doesn’t mean it’s “old pawn.”

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It’s very nice. I would ask (and get) between $55 and $75 in my shop (online).

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That’s reassuring. At $25 mentioned before I would lose $. I paid a bit too much for wholesale but I really like it!!

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Unvarnished opinion: True pawn pieces have a traceable history. My take on pieces like these is that they are unlikely to be “old pawn pieces” because it’s unlikely an inexpensive ring created in a production setting would ever be accepted as “pawn” in the first place. It’s far more likely someone came in to a dealer with a bag full of very similar rings, and sold them at a deeply discounted ’ job’ price.

A long time ago, I had a customer from a big trading family who had a number of retail stores where this kind of merchandise would be (often) fraudulently displayed with worn looking “pawn” tickets as “old pawn”. These pieces were Indian made, but produced, cheaply in quantity, and were in no way “old pawn” The pieces were often marked up 6 - 10 x the original aquisition price, and sold as 1/2 price at a 3x to 5x markup. The practice was wide spread at that time, and while I found it disgusting and unethical, if one sold to established volume buyers, if you publicly called them out on it, you’d never do business in the industry again.

Real “old pawn” is truly rare. Family ceremonial jewelry pawned for quick money, and sadly lost to unfortunate circumstances, and an inability to retrieve it in time to redeem it .It honestly makes me sick to see this con/fraud being perpetuated.

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I see so much at auction labeled old pawn— and at some long-time dealers, too. I guess it’s better to ignore that “tag” (pun intended) and just call it vintage.

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Yes, the term is completely and misleadingly overused by sellers–a point of frustration among those of us who care about NA jewelry.

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@OrbitOrange EXACTLY!!!

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Old pawn is a misused marketing term.

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Nice ring. Pawn shops and Turquoise in general by me does not sell for much.
A ring like this would be marked at $20.00., Sit for several months then be marked at 50% off.
I know, kind of sad.

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I agree with JW. I would sell it in that range. People will pay what they want for something they like. Most people are not collectors

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Always take that term of old pawn with a grain of salt; most people really don’t know what it means.

It is a cute little ring and a pretty stone, but this is the kind of piece you see very often in second hand stores and flea markets. Doesn’t mean it’s not pretty, but as others have said, produced and cheaply made so they’re widely available. I live on the East Coast and this is about the only thing I ever see available second hand over here…which is why I really cherish getting to shop out west when I can!

Realize that this thread is old and likely the ring has already been sold, but just wanted to put in my two cents that even where there is very little Native American jewelry, this would not be a high dollar item.

Also wanted to wholeheartedly agree with @mmrogers post about exactly why the term old pawn should not be taken lightly.

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Right On @mmrogers. Thanks for the “old pawn” interpretation.

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