Featured Squash Blossom Necklace...no mark/signature

.hope you're feeling much better...

 

Thanks so much K! First I thought I was going to die and then I was afraid I might not. Today’s the 8th day and still hacking, wheezing and using an inhaler but no more fever. Ran up to 102. Stay well all. And, I did have a flu shot and got on Tamiflu immediately so I don’t want to think about how bad it would have been without the antiviral.

 

Why is there no question in your mind that it is actually a NA made piece? How much contact with the hobbyist community did you have in the 60's-80's? Did you attend any instruction on making NA style jewelry in the SW by NA silversmiths during that time period? Considering the 10's of thousands of NA/SW style jewelry pieces made by hobbyist during that time period without maker's marks,it's like the "what mine did my turquoise come from".

 

Please don’t go down this same road again. We’ve danced this dance once already and I’m fine with your lack of belief in my expertise from a lifetime of handling vintage NA jewelry as both a museum store buyer years ago and as a collector. I agree that the possibility of my being fooled exists but to the best of my knowledge it hasn’t happened yet. Sure it could happen but so could my lottery numbers and I’m not holding my breath on those.

Sometime we can talk about summers in Madrid NM in the 70s as far as hanging out with Anglo artists working in NA traditional style.

I actually just saw a group of exquisite pieces that were Anglo. The work was amazing and as fine as any NA master but something about them rang off and when I inquired I was told that the guy was not NA. I don’t “see dead people” but I do seem to have a pretty good 6th sense for identifying some NA jewelry.

BTW I went to Indian Market at The Heard in Phoenix last week before I got sick. (I probably caught it there as it was just packed). Saw the most incredible work-jewelry, rugs, baskets, paintings etc. It was a visual feast.

 

OTOH, under pretty good magnification, it sure looks to me like there is tiny writing on the back, on various rounds, albeit in very tarnished areas! Would a gentle cleaning or polish on the back hurt?? And then re-post the image?? ALSO, on the front, next to one of the stones, bringing up the computer magnification, I rotated a portion of the necklace from horizontal to vertical, and, it sure looks like either a 'letter' or a stick figure and a letter - 'D'??.....inside the red 'box'........maybe or not???????

 

I saw that spot on the original photo,even under magnification it's hard to tell if it is a solder glob,tool mark,or something else.

 

Y’all tripping? I’ve seen nothing of the sort.

 

@Shwikman

Second photo,stone setting at the top,left side on the "cone" next to the outside of the stone setting.

 

I does indeed look like more than a scuff....so if you could give us a better look at it .......that would be welcomed.

 

Will do.

 

When you've handled a lot of a certain kind of jewellery, you often get that feel. I have the same with certain types of 'ethnic' jewellery (rarely marked) and Turkish repro's, for instance. It is much nicer than seeing dead people, I can tell you.

I hope you will get better soon. Glad you're over the worst of it.

 

I can't offer anything substantive but did want to ask about a spot on the back. I do see the marks on the front (don't know if they're from a tool or actual marks) but on the back there is a spot with what looks like a possible initial "W" or or "M" or something. Could have been a test for sterling I guess.



Best I can do with the front areas.

 

I'm with AJ and reader on this. The vast majority of Stuff isn't marked. It's that lifetime of handling, and looking and recognising that matters. I know exactly what you mean about things being "off", too.

 

In the art world, it is called connoisseurship.

Just a philosophical question to consider - if the jewelry is a beautiful, well made piece, what difference does it make if it was made by a Navajo or an Anglo (or any other ethnic persuasion)? What are we valuing? Without proof, the monetary premium of "Native American made" is void under current regulations, as @reader has pointed out. Is that all we have valued?

I am certainly not immune to the lure of "authenticity". There seems to be some ineffable significance to it, some touchstone of truth and reality, particularly in relation to historical objects and, in this case, objects made by a "traditional" culture. But I have often wondered if this is a particular Euro-American affectation.

 

Interesting question and I have no answer for others but my personal response to items that mimic the exact look of another culture with a definite intention to deceive is negative.

If that squash isn’t vintage Navajo (which I truly believe it is) then IMO it was made with intent to deceive, not honor.

I’m not a purist and wear NA and Mexican silver because I aesthetically love it rather than because I personally relate to either culture but for my own collecting, items must be what they appear to be. It doesn’t matter to me if no one else would know that an item I’m wearing is a replica as I’d know and that’s a turnoff for me.

I could love a piece, wear it constantly and if I then found out that it definitely wasn’t what I thought it was I’d need to find a new home for it (with disclosure of course).

 

There is a whole world of right and wrong reasons behind all that, ranging from preservation of identity on the one side to neo-colonialism and a whole lot of ugly terms on the other.

I, as a European with a very mixed cultural background, have often wondered how much of Native identity actually goes into pieces made for the tourist industry using Art Nouveau (Navajo) and Art Deco (Zuni) styles, both of which styles originated in Europe. Those styles were introduced by 'Anglos'.

Squash blossoms are based on Spanish pomegranate pendants of Middle Eastern origin, the naja (crescent shape) is a direct copy of European lunar pendants which can be traced back to European pre-history.
I am not talking techniques, but styles, and ask myself who is copying who? If you were to show this necklace to someone in 16th century Middle East, he could be excused to think it was locally made.
Many people here in Europe don't even recognize a lot of SW NA jewellery as Native American. They certainly have no idea why it should be so much more expensive than European jewellery made in similar Art Nouveau and Deco derived styles with the same weight of silver etc.
It is different with things like Hopi overlay or inlaid shells of course, or NW Coast jewellery, those are recognizably NA, as is some other NA jewellery. But how much was started by the Hopi and Zuni themselves, and how much by advancement projects or concerned 'Anglo' traders?
And then there are silversmiths like Sicilian born Frank Patania, who had such an influence on SW NA jewellery. I am sure most NA silversmiths would not have wanted to miss his valuable contribution to their art.

The way I see it, as an outsider, both NA and non-NA have been influencing one another for a very long time in the Southwest. But only one side is allowed to use the art they both grew up with. If the other side uses the same imagery that has been part of their lives since birth, they are wrong.
I know many of you don't agree, so be it. Sometimes it is good to read an outside view. In this case the view of someone who has some knowledge of NA art, history and culture.

 

On close inspection these are not marks of any sort, just little inconsistencies and what not.

 

AJ writes " or NW Coast jewellery, those are recognizably NA,..............

Well, yes...and no.
Some early Tlingit designs were heavily influenced by the Russian invaders.
Some early Haida designs have a strong European influence, at times looking very British.

As 'reader' points out though.......& in my words..
"my expertise from a lifetime of handling vintage NA jewelry as both ( an art gallery owner & dealer ) , and as a collector." , means that I can identify these old cultural differences accurately .... with a high degree of certainty.

So while there may be tens of thousands of non native made SW style jewelry out there....there are 1000's of thousands of authentic works , and many folks who know the difference !

 

That’s all so true and IMO most aesthetic elements have previous history within some culture. Art is overall circular. I have no issue with that. My issue is with direct appropriation with intent to deceive which IMO would look not like work that was influenced by another culture but work that was pretty much directly copied element for element
without artistic interpretation.

 

Well I've learned something so I'm glad you did!