Featured Mexican silver bracelet

Worth $8 US?
7 1/4" long, 28g (1oz)



The stones are a sort of semi-cabochon:


Held in place by adhesive and good wishes?


Did I get the stones right?

 

I'd pay $8 all day. I'd say dyed howlite or ???, obsidian, malachite, mahogany obsidian, sodalite, aventurine, tigerseye, dyed something or other, and either obsidian or onyx. This is a newer piece, so it could go either way.

Howlite has black veins in it generally, and magnesite has brown ones. Howlite's a good bet; the color is too vibrant and pure to be set this way if it's the real deal. My guess anyway; you never know what a random bloke in a shed will do! This bloke was in Mexico City, or had pieces assayed there at least.

 

When I go to the wholesale shows, the Mexican bracelets start wholesale at $65 and go up. So $8 was a steal

 

Very nice MOS.
And of course, wonderful photos to boot.

 

Mahogany obsidian is new to me. Why aventurine rather than chrysoprase? More common? None of these seems particularly exotic. Some of them are more like poorer cousins. Just from the way the polishing has softened its edges, I think the light blue is quite soft. For what it's worth: none of these fluoresce.

Good news on the price. My stuff doesn't usually work out that way.

TY for the compliment on the photos.

Thanks to all for looking.

 

Black onyx & green aventurine quartz. Obsidian would not be a good choice for a bracelet stone, too easily damaged. Looks like a descendant of bracelets that were popular in the 60s; each link was a semiprecious stone incised like a scarab. They were multicolored like this. This one also looks more sturdily made than those usually were.

 

I sold a similar one on Ebay not that long ago; the stones were cabs. Chrysoprase that stone isn't. Chrysoprase is uniformly green and it's darker. The spotty green is aventurine quartz. Mahogany obsidian is brown and black; it's a stone that started turning up in jewelry about 20 years ago if memory serves. Chrysoprase comes in orange too, i.e. carnelian and light gray/purply blue - chalcedony. Those are all translucent.

 

Great images!! Pretty bracelet!! Nice steal!!

 

Mahogany obsidian has been used in jewelry for many years.Glass Buttes in Oregon has a primitive area of 6000 acres where tons of obsidian have been removed by hobbyist and professional miners for over 60 years.Northern Mexico also has a number of areas with different types just covering the ground for anyone to pick up.

 

Quite a steal IMO and made as higher grade since it’s 950 instead of 925.