Is This an Antique Pueblo Native American Bracelet?

I recently purchased this bracelet at an antiques market in rural PA. I was informed by the seller that it is early Pueblo from the New Mexico/ Arizona area. I was curious as to a second opinion to confirm. The bracelet does indeed look very old and delicate. I appreciate your thoughts as well as an approximate value. I'm curious if I overpaid at $50.

Thank You!

 

Apologies. I am new to the forum, and will be sure to do this. Thanks.

 

Not a problem. You're new here. How could you be expected to know?

Debora

 

Welcome

 

Thank you! I appreciate any thoughts on this.

 

looks like an assortment of beads strung together.......i think u overpaid....

lets see what other opinions surface.........

 

This makes sense to me. Even though Native Americans may have worked with primitive material, they demonstrated good design and aesthetic appeal. The bracelet has no balance. For example the blue beads all on the left. Clunky and rustic doesn't necessarily mean authentic. Maybe the beads themselves are old Pueblo beads, but who actually strung them...well, I wonder... [disclaimer: I'm not an expert on southwest jewelry]

I can't tell from the picture, but what is the material the beads are strung on? It looks almost brand new.

 

I’m with you komokwa. It’s a broken restring of probably vintage beads. No treasure-nugget necklace would ever be strung with turquoise like that section and if a jacla was attached at some point, its missing most of it. If its being sold, I’d suggest restringing the entire piece, spacing out the turquoise, include some of the single elements (IMO don’t use that funky light turquoise, the large slice of shell, entire shell, or the 2 large bone or whatever they are pieces) and sell it as a Reconstructed Vintage Southwestern Treasure Nugget Heishi Necklace. Once it’s restrung on a cotton cord it could bring a profit IMO and maybe even a surprise. For sure Pueblo, Navajo, Santo Domingo etc. should NOT be mentioned.

 

BRACELET? I thought it was a necklace. If you can get enough length you’ll do better with it as a necklace.

Definitely sell it as a necklace. If you don’t want to try and pick up some heishi just knot at the end and leave plenty of string so that it’s worn on the neck.

 

I think the beads are a lot older than the cord.
The beads do look like assorted early beads, perhaps collected from a dig. Then restrung in a haphazard way on more modern cord.
They are in a specimen box, so it looks like they were once in someone's collection.
The photo below is my vintage Santo Domingo Pueblo necklace with the same type of waxed cord.

 

It looks like part of a necklace, with the corresponding part on the right missing, and maybe some beads on the left too. Think of the long bead as the centre.

It looks like it could have come from a dig, and strung the way it was found in the ground. The other beads could have been washed away by rain, or maybe a landslide. Some beads could have been mixed up when the site was disturbed in some way, but this could once have had the aesthetic appeal people are not seeing now.
It is difficult to say anything about the age from the photos you showed, but I would leave it as it is.

 

Tweaked the photo so it makes more sense as a necklace with beads missing. Couldn't get it exactly straight without cutting off part of what I see as the central bead, but I hope you get an idea.

 

I agree that the longer bead was probably the center but I respectfully disagree that it should be left as is unless Jennifer is keeping it as an object. I also doubt that there was a matching turquoise section on the other side. IMO that section is incorrect. Without any documentation it’s age is hearsay although I agree they’re very old. There is no site or age provenance and IMO many of the other beads are unrelated. Reworked and restrung, a very wearable salable piece could be made but that’s just my opinion. I do think they’re terrific old beads.

IMO the only other way to sell it is as is, with a carefully worded title. Perhaps Old Vintage Southwestern Bead Shell Heishi Turquoise Fetish Collection and list it with a high price and Best Offer until a collector finds it. Fetish is a great keyword for that collection. It’s legit and will definitely bring collectors although anyone looking for a Zuni fetish will hit the back button.

If I owned it I’d definitely restring it as a necklace and wear it but no one will ever accuse me of being a purist and I think it’s a waste to leave such terrific beads in a box.

 

I don’t think Jennifer overpaid as I do think the strung beads are pretty fabulous but I think they have little meaning as is and definitely need to be reworked unless they’re either being kept or sold as an object (I have a personal issue with wearable objects that are not used-don’t get me started on framed Hermès scarves lol and when I was in college and well into my 20s I wore an ancient bronze Roman bangle until it disintegrated on me and I don’t regret that I wore it).

 

Thank you all so much for all of the insights. I have just started collecting Native American Indian artifacts (found a large collection of pottery, jewelry, etc over this past weekend so may post a few other things in the future), and this info is very helpful. I have just purchased several books specifically on NA jewelry so as to learn more on this subject. Thanks again very much for your detailed responses and assistance!

 

Can’t wait to see more. If you want to wear your piece and keep it purist you can restring on cotton, remove the turquoise section and just have extra string.

 

I don't think Jennifer wants to sell it. At least not now.

I also use historic beads for necklaces sometimes. I am currently working on a necklace using beads from the Srivijaya Empire, Sumatra, Indonesia. Ca our early Middle Ages.
For those who know me, this is another one of my long term projects.