Last fall, I purchased this box bow squash blossom necklace from an established and reputable dealer who has been selling native american collectibles in Old Town Scottsdale for over forty years. I paid pretty close to full retail so I am not here to exclaim that I found this wonderful necklace at the flea market and hit a home run. The seller was very patient with my inquiries and spent a great deal of time educating me, an interested novice. I learned that this was a 1930’s necklace hand made with turquoise from the blue gem mines of Nevada While this was all interesting, I was fascinated to learn about Landers turquoise and how only a couple of hundred pounds were ever mined. So, I am curious has anyone stumbled on some Landers turquoise where the seller was simply unaware of the value? Just curious.
Considering the Lander mine wasn't discovered until 1973 and virtually no one can name a specific mine turquoise was mined at unless they were at the mine when it was dug up.http://www.landerblueturquoise.com/
Just to clarify. This is blue gem turquoise, not Landers. The Landers pieces being sold were in the ten of thousands ($40,000 +). They were all sold with guarantee of authenticity. Because of its rarity, landers is frequently being fraudulently misrepresented but experts can readily distinguish it.
Personally, I don’t agree that Landers can always be correctly identified but congrats on that drop dead gorgeous squash.
Thank you very much, reader! In the interest of furthering my education, could you please elaborate on some of the identification challenges? Are they similar to the challenges of correctly associating artwork or autographs? While the physical characteristics support an opinion, it is important to have that opinion backed by solid provenance? Or something beyond that?
As I stated, this is not Landers. I did not want to spend the $40k about something I know next to nothing about. This is 1930’s blue gem nevada turquoise. Sorry, if I was not clear, Bev.
You can take a look at this thread and the link included.I doubt the seller was around in 1930 to see the turquoise come out of the specific mine.......... https://www.antiquers.com/threads/turquoise-brooch.43625/#post-1191289
I can’t identify turquoise but I do know that multiple veins can be found in a single mine producing various colorations depending on the specific ore content and that matrix patterning can vary as well so I personally (not judging for anyone else) feel that unless one has clear documentation of location of the turquoise mining or one was standing there when it was pulled out, it’s all a guesstimate. I’ve seen so much variance in what others have called Landers (all definitely with that heavy matrix patterning) that I personally would never gamble on it at those prices, but that’s just me. I’d much rather have the piece you bought but heavy dark patterning isn’t my favorite anyway. My love is green turquoise which is usually less pricey than the blue. The only piece I own that I would definitely identify is a Cerritos Green buckle and only because I knew the artist who made it and his family and I still wasn’t there when he mined it but it’s pretty much all he worked in and he lived there.
My understanding is that the age is derived from the metal work on the necklace more so than the turquoise in this case.
We had a friend who retired from the phone co. in NY and became a jeweler. He was Seminole and his wife was Iriquois. He traveled to Arizona every year to buy chunks of turquoise. I had some very nice pieces. All put away in the safe deposit box for the kids. I should have taken pictures before I stored it. I have a ring with green veined turquoise that I love.
I purchased this from The Scottsdale Trading Post and was very impressed. Clearly, this small family shop has withstood the test of time (been there since 1940’s) based on selling a quality product while demonstrating their expertise through a very relaxed and honest sales approach.
I believe the small beads are an early version of "Hogan beads," so named as apparently someone thought these bicones reminded them of a Hogan (present on many Navajo homesteads as their sweat lodge and ceremony place). And, it's not common to see these double strung through the side blossoms. Definitely agree with the age and the craftsmanship is gorgeous. It's always nice to see these with different colors of turquoise because that's how earlier silversmiths used the turquoise. It didn't become "matched" until years later.
Perhaps the more rewarding aspect of being a “collector” is understanding the story behind your collectibles!