Featured Looking for opinions on Delbert Gordon Navajo pendant missing a claw

I decided to post this pendant after @reader went above and beyond to provide me with such helpful information and professional opinions on another Southwestern pendant I posted Friday.

As an aside, reader mentioned that he's having a Perry Null repair or fabrication done on a belt. I found another thread he mentioned and learned in that thread that @stracci suggested someone contact Perry Null Trading in Gallup NM about replacing a missing stone in a NA turquoise bracelet.

So, those comments made me think of a Delbert Gordon pendant I have that's missing a large claw or claw-shaped stone. I think I bought it at an estate sale several years ago and probably didn't pay more than $15-$20 for it.


I'm wondering if it would cost as much or more than the piece is worth to have it set with a new claw. It doesn't look like there was ever anything set into the empty space. I looked at Delbert Gordon examples to see whether he would have used a real claw, and I did find some of his jewelry with real claws.

However, it seems impossible that a jeweler/silversmith would have a claw that would fit the ready-made space -- maybe it would have to be custom-carved tiger's eye, mother of pearl, or some other stone?

I wondered about contacting Delbert Gordon directly, but it seems he doesn't have his own website.

If not cost-effective to have something custom-made to fit the space, does anyone have an opinion on whether the value of the pendant as-is would be about 1/4 (more or less?) of the value of the pendant if complete. I don't plan to wear it myself, so maybe it would be better to let a future buyer decide how to replace the missing claw.

 

Why don't you contact one of the galleries that sells his work? Always better to have the original designer work on a piece, if possible.

Debora

 

the name, the silverwork...count more than the missing claw.....
there are claws aplenty out there, and I'm sure u could get one to fit....
a carved to order turq... would work as well.....but if yer selling , yes the missing claw hurts.....but not more than the 30 bucks to replace it.....

fitting a new claw.....you don't need the artist for that......imo
send it to Kyra !!!

 

IMO if you don’t put a claw in it it’s a really tough sell. Most use badger claws today as the original bear claws are illegal in some states and definitely illegal on ebay. You can send a pic to Perry Null for one but I think he’ll charge more than $30 and you’ll have 2 way shipping. Not worth it IMO.

 

Perhaps the claw was intentionally left off. A "traditional" Navajo would never use an actual bear claw in their jewelry, since (as was explained by a Navajo jewelry maker, to me, once) "it would be like ripping off your grandfathers finger nail, and using it on a piece of jewelry."

Not all Navajo feel the same, however, and certainly other tribes have different views on the use of bear claws, but just a thought. The bear is very important, spiritually and culturally, to the Navajo.

 

I really appreciate and value everyone's thoughts and comments. I live in Wisconsin and the badger is our state animal, so their claws can't be sold or shipped here.

I was especially interested in the idea mentioned by Taupou that maybe the claw was intentionally left off, and why bear claws would never have been used by a "traditional" Navajo. I plan to contact one of the galleries, as Debora mentioned, and see if they would ask Mr. Gordon about the pendant's missing claw.

In the meantime, I remembered that I have a necklace with a claw in my tray of fetish necklaces, so I showed it to my husband and he thinks with a little trimming and reshaping he could make it fit around the turquoise. He made silver jewelry in an art metals class years ago, is a woodworker/carver, and also a hunter so he knows a little about animal claws. If I decide to have him give it a try and it turns out okay, I'd attach a note to the pendant that the claw is a replacement.

On the other hand...maybe the claw on the fetish necklace is a bear claw and would never have been used in Navajo jewelry, as Taupou mentioned. Here's a picture--it may look a little smaller than it actually is.

I'd rather see a nice carved stone--maybe like a polished brown stone that I saw in other Delbert Gordon pieces, but I don't want to invest much more into the piece.

I'll let you know if/when I get a response from one of the galleries about whether the space was intentionally left empty, or if not, what would have been used.

 

Oops...my husband just informed me that it's a bear claw, so that's not an option.

 

For some reason, the previous post with photo didn't get posted when I was writing it on my phone, then it showed up as a duplicate on my laptop and I couldn't figure out how to delete the whole thing, so I replaced the contents with this explanation.

 

ya....this is indeed a bear claw !

and I highly doubt that the piece was originally sold with that space empty..

 

There are man made bear claws..... https://www.google.com/search?clien...HWhQBEIQBSgAegQICBAC&biw=1166&bih=609&dpr=1.3

 

Great idea, Holly. I looked online and found two places that sell 2" replica black bear claws (one in Minnesota and one in Illinois) for a cost of $1.19-$2.95 plus shipping. The only problem is the space on the pendant is more like 1.5" including the space where the top of the claw is covered, and it seems a 2" bear claw is the smallest size available.

I also sent a chat message on the Perry Null website and will see what I hear from them.

If nothing else, my husband could carve a claw out of a piece of dense hardwood, stain, and coat with tung oil. Probably wouldn't add much of anything to the value, but at least it would look complete.

 

YESSSS! a polymer clay replacement claw, and no bear would be hurt

 

Thank you, kyratango, for that idea. Do you mean something like oven bake Sculpey clay? I used it several years ago to make a little black boot for a broken Santa Claus ornament, but it didn't look the greatest. Is there a special technique for making something out of polymer clay so it's really smooth and polished-looking?

 

You can smoth it before baking (I use the flat face of a butterknife), after baking file it, polish or varnish

 

Thank you, kyratango--I may try that for another project since my husband just asked me to draw a pattern for the claw and says he thinks he has a piece of ebony wood that he would like to try carving for the replacement. We'll see what happens.

 

Agree that IMO it absolutely had an animal claw in it. I’ve had many claw pieces in my life and have never seen an intentionally empty bezel/setting.

 

oooopsy

 

Thanks, reader. My husband looked at the empty space more closely and says there are definite signs that something was removed.

After doing more reading about bear claw jewelry, I suspect someone may have removed the claw in this pendant in order to sell the pendant legally. Then the person who bought it didn't know what to do with it, and it ended up at the estate sale where I bought it.

Tonight I was reading online some of the problems people who sell fake-claw jewelry on Etsy have because Etsy has bots that only look at photos and can't tell the difference between real and fake claws. Yet on eBay, I saw several listings that included the terms "bear claw" and the photos looked like the claws were real, or they were actually badger claws (or maybe the sellers were Native Americans who can legally sell bear claws??). But then eBay seems to be known for not enforcing certain rules, or at least hit-and-miss enforcement.

So, maybe by the time I get around to selling this pendant (or my daughter does), even a carved ebony claw could be a problem since it's considered an endangered wood. I guess I'll tell my husband to use hard maple or hickory. At least I've learned a lot from this post/thread, so thank you to all who contributed.

 

I think a wooden one will be beautiful.