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Turquoise/Native American jewelry

Sheepdog149

Practically Family
Messages
622
Location
Fort Lauderdale, FL
Four Directions beaded deerskin cuff:
a7c68deddfcb0fa06f00cd16945ec250.jpg


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Messages
15,012
Location
Buffalo, NY
A few recently acquired pieces... a silver ring in a stylized kachina form, with four bisbee turquoise stones:

kachina_ring1.jpg


kachina_ring2.jpg


and a few new bead necklaces, from top, a set of nice graduated silver bench beads (Navajo pearls), two long strands of ancient Chumash stone beads from the California Channel Islands, a necklace of ancient Roman empire hand cut amazonite beads strung with excavated Roman glass beads (perhaps two thousand years old) and a necklace of antique long faceted "Russian" cobalt Chief's beads, likely made in Bohemia or Venice a few hundred years ago, purchased by Russians for fur trade with Pacific Northwest native people. My trade bead collection is growing!

amazonite_beads.jpg
 
Messages
11,161
Location
Alabama
A few recently acquired pieces... a silver ring in a stylized kachina form, with four bisbee turquoise stones:

View attachment 170571

View attachment 170572

and a few new bead necklaces, from top, a set of nice graduated silver bench beads (Navajo pearls), two long strands of ancient Chumash stone beads from the California Channel Islands, a necklace of ancient Roman empire hand cut amazonite beads strung with excavated Roman glass beads (perhaps two thousand years old) and a necklace of antique long faceted "Russian" cobalt Chief's beads, likely made in Bohemia or Venice a few hundred years ago, purchased by Russians for fur trade with Pacific Northwest native people. My trade bead collection is growing!

View attachment 170573

Really great acquisitions, Alan. That ring and its stones is something. Not what I conjure visually when thinking "pinkie" ring.

Your trade bead collection is a treat to look at and I'm glad I haven't stepped off that ledge. From the looks of them it appears size was important (they all look hefty) as well as quality of construction as there is a lot of symmetry in all of the work. Love the various shapes, textures and colors. Thanks for sharing.
 
Messages
15,012
Location
Buffalo, NY
Really great acquisitions, Alan. That ring and its stones is something. Not what I conjure visually when thinking "pinkie" ring.

Your trade bead collection is a treat to look at and I'm glad I haven't stepped off that ledge. From the looks of them it appears size was important (they all look hefty) as well as quality of construction as there is a lot of symmetry in all of the work. Love the various shapes, textures and colors. Thanks for sharing.

Many thanks Greg. I'm glad you enjoy seeing them.

These are not lightweight strands, but most are very wearable weights. I do have a couple that could benefit from a good back brace. The source of these (almost all of the ones I own, actually) is a Washington based native community that has a remarkable collection of ethnographic necklaces. The prominent antique beads in each are a joy to see and handle and they are strung in very handsome combinations. Some have likely been restrung while others have been in these strands for a very long time.
 

Desert dog

My Mail is Forwarded Here
Messages
3,291
Location
California
A few recently acquired pieces... a silver ring in a stylized kachina form, with four bisbee turquoise stones:

View attachment 170571

View attachment 170572

and a few new bead necklaces, from top, a set of nice graduated silver bench beads (Navajo pearls), two long strands of ancient Chumash stone beads from the California Channel Islands, a necklace of ancient Roman empire hand cut amazonite beads strung with excavated Roman glass beads (perhaps two thousand years old) and a necklace of antique long faceted "Russian" cobalt Chief's beads, likely made in Bohemia or Venice a few hundred years ago, purchased by Russians for fur trade with Pacific Northwest native people. My trade bead collection is growing!

View attachment 170573
Thanks for posting such an interesting piece. I had a friend that used to walk the desert with me, in search of artifacts. It amazed me that he found trade beads in the Mojave Desert. I have found shell beads, but no trade beads. I recently read of fur traders entering the "back door" of Alta California, to trade and steal. Here is a metate and mano that my friend found, he gave it to me before he died. The mano was beneath the metate, which was inverted. Hidden for safe keeping in a stand of mesquite.
441bba3e3d838fac92138f4cbb0ff2cb.jpg


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