Featured Any turquoise experts?

Haven't posted in awhile as I haven't found much post worthy things!! Anyhow I found a piece that I am stumped on.... I bought this at a pawn shop for $50 and it weighs 50 grams. Unfortunately it is not signed anywhere but is sterling. I was hoping for a makers mark to make things easier. I fear there isn't much to identify about it but maybe I am wrong. Can anyone tell me anything about it at all? Perhaps a time period? Thanks to all!!

 

The triangle bars, rope work, beads, turquoise.......it certainly is Southwest style...


but...it just looks odd to me...


the open sides and sealed top.....the finish at both ends....no sign....no content....and it almost looks plated from here.....

it's nice....but it looks like it's trying to hard to be 1st Nations made....

did u polish it?

 

Didn't polish it but I am gonna need to get it tested now because the tarnish did look odd to me but I didn't think of it being plated..

 

It’s attractive and i have no idea where it’s from but my gut feeling is that it’s Indonesian (or Asian in general) trying to be Navajo. It slso looks newer in which case it would 99.9% be stamped if NA.

 

Seconded. That ropework would be seriously weird on an NA piece. Dead bang on for Bali though.

 

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why weird?

 

I agree on Bali but not specifically on the rope work. I’ve got tons of Navajo ropework. There’s just something off about it that rings Indonesia (Bali is big on exporting silver jewelry) for me.

 

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this is the look yours is going for.....

 

I kind of agree with everyone else here. It looks too new or too commercial type. I am in Arizona and was raise around a lot of Navajo jewelry. Mom has a bunch from the early 50's and 60's. Dad was a truck driver that delivered to the reservation in the 60's so he brought home a lot of gifts. The stones look off. I am far from an expert but I just remember what authentic Navajo jewelry looked like.

 

Imo, this bracelet doesn't have the finesse of Balinese modern jewellery, but it is spot on for Turkish 'ethnic mix' jewellery.
So yes to Asia, but much further West.

We have quite a few Turkish jewelers around here, and their windows are full of this type of jewellery, with the same colour turquoise. The jewelers say it is Turkish made, and I believe them.
Turkey has been copying indigenous styles for a while now, much to the dismay of many Ethnic jewellery collectors. They make excllent copies of Central Asian jewellery for instance, but they also copy other styles, like NA. They even make turquoise set jewellery with faces with Plains style feather headdresses.
They also mix styles, like you see on this bracelet.

 

This piece is such a perfect example of buyer beware on NA jewelry but for those that collect or handle NA pieces all the time there was just something off about it without anything being specifically wrong other than being newer and unstamped which still could happen.

 

It's attractive! The OP never mentioned southwestern or NA style, BTW. I definitely agree with all of your analyses... and am not even an expert on any of that.

 

My comments for one have nothing to do with the OP’s comments. Virtually every collectible on the planet is copied and many people enjoy those copies-I’m just not one of them which is not judgment on those that do. All I’m saying is that when that bracelet was made, it was sold to imitate Navajo jewelry.

 

That's what I thought about your comments. Thanks for the verification.