Featured Zuni inlay pin, Indian bracelets, silver and coral rings, by request

I mentioned these in another post, @Any Jewelry asked for photos, so here they are. I have more to photograph, but they are in my antique booth. I’ll try to get photos of them tomorrow.

Silver Zuni kachina dancer pin, approximately 1-5/8” tall.


The first ring is very large, probably size 17 or 18. Overall height is about 1-3/4”. It’s light for the size, mostly made of sheet silver soldered together. It looks sort of like a minaret ring to me.




Second ring is about size 7, with three sets of rings that slightly jingle.
Pair of silver bracelets, Indian I’m fairly certain. I have not cleaned them, but I think these are lower purity silver, like maybe 800.

 

AJ knows about both, so I'm just vamping until she comes along. Only the pin looks at all NA to me. Other pieces strike me as Indian or Himalayan. And I don't like the absence of some kind of silver mark on the brooch & all the verdigris.

 

@NaptownFTW, Can you open the pin on the back of the 'Zuni' pin so we can try to see what it says, unless you know what it says!!!???

 

You’re right on. The rings I think are Indian or central Asian. The bracelets are Indian, I think more souvenir grade than anything.

 

Unfortunately, there’s nothing there except a shadow.

 

The brooch looks like it has fire scale/stain,so naturally it could have verdigris.

 

Your pin is not a kachina.
He is actually Knifewing.
He is the half man, half eagle Zuni spirit god.

 

yup..

 

Much of my NA silver jewellery isn’t marked.

 

Lovely, @NaptownFTW , thank you for showing us.
The rings are from Yemen! The second one is unusual, with those bell dangles.
The stones on both are very shiny, so they are probably not very old. Are you sure the stone on the first one is coral, not coral glass? They used glass tile beads sometimes, because the colour is more important than the stone.

The bracelets are also from the Middle East, but a more generic style.

Nice Knifewing brooch.
Older NA jewellery is often not marked, but there is something odd about this one. The verdigris is unusual, but that could be due to contamination from another piece. But it also looks like the silver is cast, which would be highly unusual. Maybe I'm just not seeing it right.

 

Thank you for the information on the rings. I had no idea they were from that area, I was just told the previous owner had spent a lot of time in India and the American West. On the knifewing, the silver is sheet, with soldered on bezels and details. It’s more tarnished than the photos show. The green is from the solder. I haven’t cleaned it much yet, but the green easily comes off with water and a soft plastic pick.

 

Oh, good.
As I said, older NA jewellery is often not marked. This one could be 1960s or 70s. Does that fit with what you know of its history?

 

Definitely fits with the other pieces I still need to get photos of. One is signed R Begay with the italic Sterling mark I see on a lot of NA pieces from the 60s and 70s. The clasp made me think that period as well.