Featured Men's Sterling Turquoise and Coral Ring mark, Native American?

There are some clues....the way the stones were set.....what stones& embelishments ...certain designs....
Clues....but not certainties !!

 

Everything worth reproducing/copying from 60 years of Arizona Highways magazine has been made.Many unmarked pieces the "experts" can't say who made them.When someone is taught by a NA silversmith and gains experience the pieces are just a guess when and who made them.

See class info from last summer...... https://www.idyllwildarts.org/summer/adultarts/metalsweek/#1484329277621-61823074-0b4b

 

Exactly. There are other clues as well, the weight of the piece, and in the case of multiple turquoises, whether the stones are matched. Old Pawn pieces are heavier, not signed, no matched stones, old patina on silver and stones. But those properties alone don't make it Old Pawn, just NA jewellery with a nice age.
Fashions in SW NA jewellery making certainly did evolve, modern pieces are not like pieces from the 20s and 30s. And there were fashions for Modernist, etc. You can tell if a piece is from a certain period, or at least before a certain date.

 

Yes...like when coral was 1st used...& when black vinyl record shards replaced jet !
Also when imported turquoise became popular for use.....
There are many things an 'expert' would look for to determine age and origin.

 

...all of which leaves me out. I know enough to spot good quality and can roughly guesstimate age, but would hardly call myself an expert. I do know that "old pawn" and "native pawn" generally means "look at the next auction".

 

I respectfully disagree with you guys that think that “old pawn” without provenance means hit the back button. I have old pawn jewelry that is no longer tagged or marked as it was bought out of pawn by me decades ago from pawn dealers like Richardson in Gallup and the original Ortega’s in Scottsdale. I’m not selling them but if I were, I’d list them as old pawn without any guilt, but I’d expect buyers to have enough knowledge to look at the piece and know what it is.

Pawn IMO means nothing-it’s about OLD for me and I don’t care if it came from a pawn shop, secondary market jeweler or somone’s inheritance from a long dead family member. If it’s good, it’s good and not every NA used a pawn beside the fact that tons of pawn did resell to private individuals who then let go of the pieces later on to someone else and so on. BTW don’t dismiss signed pieces as not being “pawn” worthy. All of us should only be lucky enough to score a Loloma and yes, that would be later at 60s forward.

I personally take listings of “old pawn” with the same grain of salt as “plein air” for a small landscape painting. If it’s good, it’s good and yes both terms are misused. JMO folks.

 

And that is all that counts.