Hello everyone. I’ve been a member here for a few years now and have been collecting Native American jewelry for about ten years. However, this is my first post here.
Recently, I purchased this bolo tie at a local antique store despite my concern over the uniform deep blue of the turquoise. I’ll chalk that up to having been looking for a similar item for some time now and then I found one locally on my birthday weekend!
Anyway, it is my suspicion that this bolo contains color treated and stabilized turquoise or, at worst, dyed howlite or magnesite. I am curious to know the opinions of others with more experience than I.
Thank you all for any feedback that you may provide.
Howdy! I would guess stabilized Kingman. I’ve got 2 rings with Kingman nuggets that have a similar shape to yours, one stone is stabilized and the other ring has a natural stone. Stabilization isn’t necessarily a bad thing; the natural stone in my ring is lower quality, and it completely changed color rather quickly (it was very pale to begin with).
Wondering if these are stones that the maker might have used a little black shoe polish in the matrix for contrast.
I am not very knowledgeable, but I think if someone signed the piece, used sterling and a bear claw, they wouldn’t downgrade the stone to howlite. Nice piece!
Thank you both for your responses! I do agree that it would be strange to pair dyed howlite with a real bear claw and that stabilized turquoise is most likely. I am pleased with my purchase. I suppose purchase anxiety was causing me to second guess my actions.
