High grade 1.4”L x 23mm W, treatment unknown, vintage Navajo Sterling cuff made by Thomas Francisco, c. 1970’s-80’s.
Stone has been “said” to be Red Mountain, Lone Mountain, Bisbee, Candelaria, Kingman, Battle Mountain, etc.. Someone sold a similar cab on Etsy for $2495 and called it “old NV #8”. I don’t believe this is #8. Bad file compression on this site. Color is much brighter and brilliant showing intense saturation.
No consensus. Wait list for Turquoise Museum eval is forever. Thoughts?
No one can tell you 100% what your turquoise is without good provenance. If you are wanting information in order to sell it, I think your best bet if you feel like you need to know is to wait for information from the Turquoise Museum, and even then you should probably only say that it was their evaluation of the turquoise mine. The only thing I feel comfortable saying is I agree that it does not look like Number Eight.
On here we enjoy looking at turquoise and (sometimes) making educated guesses as to where a stone may have originated, but we know that in general you cannot look at a stone and know for sure where it’s from.
Thank you. I’ve been offered excellent resources from well connected galleries. And yes, this most def is not #8
Since the well connected galleries apparently disagree on what the stone is, it seems like it may just be a puzzle. Hopefully the Turquoise Museum can help you.
I personally am not comfortable with a gallery telling me that they know where a stone is from if they don’t have provenance. I’m fine if they say they think it could be from such and such a mine, but I respect a gallery that says they don’t know.
No, the “well-connected galleries” have neither agreed or disagreed with any ideas about provenance. They’ve offered no opinion at all only to refer me to individuals that they feel may be able to help. They all do agree that it’s a high-grade, gem quality stone, and I will most likely submit it for XRF analysis to arrive at a professional, unequivocal assessment, most likely by The Turquoise Museum. Playing guessing games with Turquoise isn’t my thing when science offers definitive methods of analyzing minerals. Thanks to all who offered input.
So when I say “guessing” (and we’re not playing “games” on here), what I’m trying to say in a polite way is that no one can tell you 100% just by looking at your stone, particularly from a picture, what mine it came from. So I’m not really sure why you asked us if you want 100% unequivocal proof. And in your first comment you said you’re not sure whether the stone has had treatment or not. If the stone has had treatment done to it, it is not gem grade material.
I wasn’t asking for 100% unequivocal proof. While it appears from photos and actuality to be untreated, gem-grade material, that can’t be established without testing. I was simply asking if anyone in this forum was familiar with, or who had similar material, who may be able to offer a reasonable opinion. I understand that the only definitive proof will come from an authoritative source where the stone is subjected to extensive analysis. I plan on moving forward with that plan and if at some point I do have a conclusive, comprehensive analysis, I’m happy to offer it here.
is Thomas Francisco still alive?
have you researched trying to contact him direct?
can you show a photo of the hallmark?
Thank you, we would love to hear whatever you learn about it.
We have new people come on here all the time who would like us to tell them that their turquoise is from such and such a mine; most likely so they can quote us when they sell it on eBay or Etsy.
I’ve contacted galleries who offer multiple pieces of his jewelry for sale but haven’t heard back yet. Most galleries won’t offer this information as they feel that someone wants to just bypass them and buy from an artist directly. The hallmark is an older, original hallmark before he became well known and modified his signature. That has been verified by someone well acquainted with his work.
I’m not selling the bracelet. It’s part of my personal collection. If I was ever to sell it, it will be with proper documentation and authentication.
Good to know. But since you didn’t mention that in an introduction, I/we had no way of knowing. Have a great night!
You too, and thanks to everyone for their feedback! Much appreciated!
@Nance1 Hi & Welcome. That’s an attractive turquoise cuff. Help me to understand why you consider the cuff circa 1970s-1980s. It doesn’t have popular design elements that we’d normally see on work from that period. In my opinion, I’d say your cuff is 1990s or later in style. My curiosity is piqued about the hallmark on your cuff. Hallmarks can be paramount to learning about a piece of Native American jewelry. Please provide a clear photo of the hallmark on the cuff. Thanks.
Sorry for the delay. I have the flu and am a bit under the weather. Someone quite familiar with his pieces thought that this was an earlier creation, possibly mid to late 80’s. Some state he began creating in 1989, so yes, the 70’s timetable wouldn’t be correct. I’ve reached out to numerous vendors who market his pieces in bulk, but I have yet to hear. It may indeed be a 90’s creation. I know he’s a prolific artist, but I believe that some of his work that we’re seeing has been replicated by fraudsters. A woman marketing on eBay was just prosecuted for fraudulent sales of imported junk from Asia masquerading as authentic Native. I’d like to know what her user name was, because the fraud is rampant on eBay. Cheap Asian knockoffs passed off as authentic Native American jewelry in $92K eBay scam | FOX 10 Phoenix
@Nance1 Sorry to hear that you’re under the weather. I hope that you’ll feel better soon. Thanks for taking the time to post the additional photo. I honestly don’t know whether or not this is an earlier hallmark of Thomas Francisco. My resource is Bille Hougart’s “Native American and Southwestern Silver Hallmarks” book. This TF hallmark isn’t shown as Thomas Francisco’s hallmark. Mr. Hougart was a well respected author of several hallmarks books and was known for his in-depth research in this field.
