What was the first turquoise you ever bought? Where did you buy it? Do you still have/wear it?
1990, tourist trap in Cherokee NC, yes but not often.
This ring has such strong memories for me!! I bought it on my first road trip that I took in my first truck, out to NC to help a friend move back to MO. wore it every day until i got married, then replaced it with a turquoise wedding ring. 
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I was around 11 or 12 years old (early 70s) and we always were vacationing in Monument Valley at a Best Western in Kayenta, AZ. They had a little store and I fell in love with a bracelet. My dad agreed to give me my lawn mowing money so I could buy itâ$13.00. Still one of my favorites!! That was the start of my collection which has just grown from there.
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Thatâs so sweet!! Beautiful bracelet, and a special memory.
I guess my first piece was actually a turquoise chip butterfly ring that I lost when I was about 10. My mother refused to buy me jewelry after that, so it was a big deal to finally have a tiny bit of money to buy a turquoise ring of my own. I love the stories of our personal connections to the things we collect!! Even for modest amateurs like me, we still love our treasures!
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What a fun thread to revive!
The first piece is this horse necklace my parents got me when I was 6 or 7; it came from Tweetsie Railroad (amusement park) or some other tourist trap in the NC mountains. Not real silver and may or may not be actual turquoise chips but looks pretty good for almost 40 years old. It was a favorite thing of mine throughout my childhood and Iâm glad I still have it.
This cuff kicked off the adult revivalâŚbought it at a shop in Yellowstone National Park and was a pawn piece from Gallup, NMâŚstill had its pawn tag! The color is off in this picture but I liked the array of shades of blue.
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For me it started about a year ago, when i was browsing around online and stumbled upon this bracelet. I was immediately struck by itâs beauty plus my friends often call me DJ as a nickname. It always gives me a happy feeling when i look at it, especially when i accidentally glance over it and itâs beauty grabs a hold of me. I feel very blessed in those moments. Thanks to the wealth of knowledge on this site i now believe itâs creatorâs full name is Dennis James
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Thanks for reviving this thread, very interesting. I think the first pieces I was given were a silver and turquoise barrette (gave it to a niece) and a belt buckle (still wear it) that my mom bought for me on a trip west in 1982. As far as what I bought myself, Iâm not sure which of these three things were first. I hadnât really spent any time in Santa Fe till about '89 when a friend took me out to visit her brother. Over the next couple years I took three trips with friends to NM and AZ. I bought the Hopi cuff in Santa Fe, the other cuff in Flagstaff, and the Hopi earrings in Taos. Iâm thinking the earrings were the first of the three. Still wear them all, and each piece has a special place in my heart because of the memories attached.
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This was my first purchase at a New Jersey powwow in the 70s sometime. Mom would take us to the powwows in the 60s and 70s where I learned to appreciate the NA jewelry and history.
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I bought this piece almost 30 years ago near Sedona. I loved the inlay work. Then I got busy raising a family and 30 years later started buying silver at online auctionsâŚI was always gravitating towards NA jewelry. Now, Iâm hooked on all types of NA and Mexican silver jewelry. this piece is a BGM and signed by C. Lincoln. Does anyone know anything about that artist? I still like the inlay work and am a fan of Cathy Webster.
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We also used to go to Pow Wows, but in western Ontario way over close to the Manitoba border. But I was pretty little so donât remember them very well. Actually I guess the first piece my parents purchased for me was a beaded necklace, which I amazingly still have and wear, from one of those. I have no memory of it, but my brother said one time one of the natives took me out with him during one of the dances.
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It was at one of these early powwows that we met Roger Littlehorn (Mohawk) and got to know him. He was the cover for Savage Arms in 1969, worked on building the World Trade Center, and was an advocate for NA rights. I remember that one powwow in 1969 well as he made me his little âblood brotherâ with thumb pricks and a brief ceremony. And yes, my first purchase was from Savage Arms years later.
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The first piece of turquoise that I bought was this (not remotely NA) pendant at a little New Age shop in Barnstaple, North Devon, England. Itâs a small turquoise flattened âdonutâ, paired with a small peridot cab. At least, thatâs how it was described. (This is where someone tells me this isnât turquoise at all! Ha ha!)
Turquoise is my birthstone, but I never cared for it because, in my youth, the only turquoises I ever saw were a featureless plasticky blue (heck, they might have been plastic!) that appealed to me not at all. This pendant was the first time I realized, âOh hey, maybe all turquoises are not alikeâŚâ
There are a lot of happy memories associated with this little pendant. My main issue with wearing it is that the lower tip of the bail tends to slide sideways, making the whole thing tilt badly off-centre. Not sure what to do about that.
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Very pretty! I have an Apache friend who lives on the San Carlos Apache reservation in AZ where they find a lot of peridot. She took a few of us out to show us what it looks like in the rough, and where they find it among the lava rocks.
Maybe you could have someone solder the bail on so it doesnât slip?
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Thatâs probably the easiest solution - thanks! Iâll look for a local jeweller whoâd be willing to do it.
Roger Littlehorne was my grandfather! Iâd be interested if you have anymore memories or connections from your meeting at the powwow. My grandmother still has many of his things to this day
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Fun thread! Itâs interesting how many of you started at a young ageđ. Probably good my parents didnât collect or Iâd have started so much earlier and have even more than I do nowđ
I knew nothing about Native American art until I was introduced to it by a classmate when I was in grad school at University of California, Davis. I admired her jewelry and kachina collection, and accompanied her to the Southwest during college breaks in the 70âs. My first piece was a row bracelet with what was likely Kingman/ shoe polished nuggets, purchased at Richardsons in Gallop. Back then Richardsons had great pawn pieces. It was a heavy piece and I remember thinking it was the most expensive bracelet they hadâŚlittle did I know! I no longer have that bracelet, but do have the first piece I bought several years later after I married my husband. This inlay cuff was from a Pawn shop, a couple streets behind Richardsons. Thatâs all I remember, I didnât keep good records back then; I donât wear it, but still like it:
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PM me your phone number. My mom is almost 93. She filled in a couple gaps.
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New here! Looks like a fun place to share/learn/teach/enjoy!
âThe piece that started it all for meâ is this cuff bracelet. I wear it almost everyday. Iâve traced the hallmark to Manuel Begay, a Navajo artist, through Wrightâs second edition of Hallmarks of the Southwest. I havenât found another âMEBâ in any of the reference works Iâve consulted; so, if someone has a correction on the attribution, a clearer picture is always appreciated! 
For as long as Iâve worn itâand for as much other NA jewelry as Iâve collected sinceâIâve been unsure of exactly what the construction is on this. At first glance, it would seem to have some relationship with the overlay technique, particularly as a Navajo overlay piece and thus lacking the characteristic âhatchingâ in the negative space that is indicative of Hopi work. Upon further examination, though, the cuff seems to be rather deeply stamped into this meander-pattern (the other elements are more obviouslyâeven typicallyâstampwork). What has given me the most pause in picking a definitive line here is the faint trace of a âlayerâ in the silver visible on one side of the band and the âghostâ of the meander on the underside of the band, which seems to confirm stampingâor does it? Iâd welcome any thoughts that can put the mystery to bed for once and for all, should any of you have a word.
Anyway, here are some photos after all that text!
It was difficult to capture the âghostâ Iâm referring to on the underside of the band, particularly as the sunlight is fading fast here in Paris! Here is my best effort:
As well, that faint âlayerâ detail I mentioned (terrible photo, unfortunately):
And here is what I gathered from Wright:
Thanks for having me here! Looking forward to chatting with you all.
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Welcome to the forum! And what a beautiful cuff. I would have certainly guessed Navajo overlay, and it does look like there is a faint line where the two pieces were soldered together for overlay, but I see what youâre saying with the zigzag pattern. I can see the pressure marks on the back of some of my Hopi pieces, so maybe the same kind of thing? Now Iâm going to have to look at some of mine again to see more what they look like in comparison to yours.
Edit: I just checked and I can only see it on two of my Hopi overlay pieces; one is pressure from the etching, and the other does appear to be from the swirls that the etching is in. Iâll see if I can take a picture, but I donât know if it will show.
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