Featured Tekke Turkmen (?) pendant/necklace --out of my wheelhouse.

This is very much out of my wheelhouse, but I was in the first group into an estate sale and wound up buying this. The back tests as sterling, I am thinking this is an older Tekke Turkmen piece (based on online comparison) versus a repro? Thoughts?

I don't know how much resale there is for this kind of thing, but the piece just had such presence.


I haven't done any cleaning yet. It is sort two plates and hollow in between. Carnelian obviously for the stones.




It's large.





Anything to add to my research? Thanks.

 

it's lovely.......& I suspect the chain is not original and the rings at the 4 corners held dangles...

 

at least 3 of them did...

 

What a cool piece! I’d have snapped that up. I have no idea where it’s from so following with interest.

 

It is a Turkmen pendant. It could be Tekke, but I am not entirely sure. The Tekke are the largest Turkmen group, but there are other Turkmen groups as well. I would just call it Turkmen.
This type of pendant is called "gonjik", and it is worn as a diamond shape on the chest for protection. Gonjiks were either sewn on a coat type dress or worn on a chain.

So it is worn as a diamond shape, with the corners north-south and east-west. That means that the chain has to be attached with both ends to the north corner only.
The chain is of the type used in Central Asia, so it is probably original, only attached the wrong way.
The south corner had a dangle and the east-west corners either had dangles or smaller support chains that were attached to the main chain. I think they had dangles, otherwise there would be only one dangle, a bit meagre for Turkmen jewellery.

Below are gonjiks from a dead link. These are Ersari Turkmen, which yours isn't, but the orientation and the type of dangles are similar to the ones yours originally had:

 

I very much appreciate the detailed info and photos AJ! Was hoping you'd stop by because I had a feeling you might know about these. Thank you so much.

I did some internet searching prior to listing here, was thinking I'd find another with just corner loops for dangles. I could find only one, but it was different enough I couldn't be sure it was a good comparison. (Photo below.) All the others had multiple loops for dangles, not just on the cormer.

Any sense as to whether mine is older? I'm thinking since the back is sterling it might not be a modern version, but I really don't know. If yes to older would it be as early as 1920's? Curious to learn about these.

This is the only other one I found w/only loops for dangles, same exact size but, it's somewhat different so might not be a good comparison. Seller felt this silver one was older.


(Photo from https://turkishfolkart.com/product/turkmenistan-tribal-turkmen-antique-silver-pendant-ornament/)

 

Frankly I don't know. I find it very difficult to date these pieces because they have been made according to tradition for a long time. I can say that it is a genuine piece, and the silver content is a clue.

If it is exactly sterling it could be later. They only started using sterling in the second half of the 20th century, more towards the end.
Most of the Turkmen area was Russian, so ca .835 would make sense for older pieces. Antique pieces were often made from Maria Theresia Taler coins, which were .833.

Yes, that is Yomud Turkmen, which yours isn't.

The silver looks to be in the 800 range, probably .833, so the seller is probably right.

 

Thank you again. Very helpful. It tested as silver on the testing stone, so have to think it is Sterling, unless 833 would show nearly the same.

It's been interesting learning about these and I appreciate your expertise, AJ. Thank you!

 

I find it interesting that your item has a centre oval stone , positioned on an angle as if for a square pendant.....similar to the smallest one in AY's photo.
When held up as a diamond shape ...the centre stone looks crooked.
???

The others shown have the centre stone properly set for a diamond shape ...

 

Okay, this may be a silly question but how do you know for sure which corner is north?

 

You don't. Lucille will have to designate one.