I’ve been wondering about this necklace for awhile now. The two beads do appear or seem to be sterling, handmade beads as best as I can tell, but the clasp is not sterling. Does this look like real turquoise (I did check with acetone and no color transfer and some pieces appear to have some pyrite) and are these type of necklaces at all desirable or collectible? If it is real, what kind of value would it have? I don’t wear it as I have neck issues and this is a bit heavy and tends to exacerbate my neck problems, so I am considering if I should sell it. Thanks!
4 Likes
Beautiful necklace. Somewhat unusual, as the Turquoise does not appeared to be polished.
It reminds me of either Kingman or Sleeping Beauty with pyrite.
How long is it?
1 Like
Looks good, lots of turquoise there. Here is one for sale on eBay
1 Like
^That is a pretty different sort of necklace and not a comparable, imo, in terms of either pricing or likely market for it.
2 Likes
It is always a little difficult to determine from a picture, but why is the eBay listing so different?
1 Like
@Jason the eBay example is in line with the traditional Navajo tab necklace, with hand-shaped turquoise pieces and turquoise heishe interspersed among the tabs/slabs. The tab type of turquoise has their holes drilled higher on the bead (closer to the string on which it’s stacked), so that the bulk of the stone hangs lower; this is not what you see in Tess’s necklace. In the eBay piece you also can see what appear to be handworked turquoise stones, or at least possibly so. So it’s fair to assume the eBay one is Navajo (or Native in any case), and traditional in style, and with hand work. The other one is less certain on all of those features.
Here are pics in the eBay listing showing the tab style beads, the turq heishe, and what seem to be more rounded, handworked turquoise stones.
Recognizably traditional appeals to some collectors more and fetches higher dollars vs. a more neutral and possibly less hand-fashioned style of turquoise necklace.
2 Likes
It’s about 20 inches long.
1 Like
I will say I like the look of the eBay one better that greenish blue color is always more appealing to me. However, I would argue that it is no more traditional than the other necklace. I would also say that those turquoise heishe pieces with the rounded edges make you think they are not handmade but definitely has some age, the shell heishe looks to be from the Philippines. The necklace by tessburgess has turquoise that reminds you of the characteristics of something like Castle Dome. I have included some pictures of necklaces we have here to show you the variety of this style.
This is some Castle Dome I found on the internet.
Again, it is always difficult to determine from an image but I think it is a nice set of beads and definitely has value. He is a different necklace about half the price, would definitely value tessburgess piece for more.
7 Likes