Featured Primitive carved turquoise ram/buffalo fetish or effigy?

Hey guys,
I've had this thing for years, prob 20yrs to be exact and I found it again the other day seeing it again got me curious if this was worth holding onto or jyst putting it up for the turquoise content (not the best but I'm sure it'll sell) any way I value everyone's opinions on here and look forward to hearing what everyone thinks even if it's horrible news, at least I know now. If it helps I acquired it at a little home town thrift store on the outskirts of Alberqurqe NM. It's 3 inches long x 1 inch wide x 2 inches tall and weighs 144.1 grams. Any info you guys care to share would be wonderful and I thank you in advance for taking the time to come in here to check it out!

 

No, no, no. Don't just sell it off as a hunk of turquoise matrix. I know only a little about Zuni fetishes, although I own a collection's worth of them. Think this is what is considered 'old style', where minimal change is made to the natural shape of the rock to bring out the suggestion of an animal. I don't follow that market anymore, but when I was last actively buying, only some elders were working in this style. It is worth knowing more about.

 

I went and looked up the old style fetishes and with in a few pictures on Google images found a similar looking Ram though not in turquoise the head shape was very similar. I wonder what kind of turquoise this is? I looked that up too and cane across Candelaria Turquoise, but I'm not 100% sure in that hopefully someone will come along and confirm the two..thanks for the advice!!

 

Just to alert you, nothing that comes up in an eBay search for 'Zuni old style' is actually old style, so don't take any cues from there.

 

http://www.zunispirits.com/2012/16114.html

Most of what is coming up for me is not really old style, but this one qualifies.

 

Lots of additional pix in the slideshows:

http://tucsonturquoise.com/southwest-turquoise/

 

Would @Taupou know about these?

 

I hope @Mark Bahti sees this. He has written a book on Zuni fetishes, he will know.

 

Nice old piece. Here's my (newer made) bear...

 

I love your bear. I'd be happy to have the stone, even if not carved. The front paws almost look like hands. I don't have the lighting now, but will maybe show 1 or 2 of mine. I have a squirrel of turquoise & matrix that's one of my favorites.

 

does @Taupou or @Mark Bahti come here often? I'm curious of their input on it

 

I've bought and sold Zuni fetishes frequently over the years, but I've pretty much kept to ones I purchase directly from the artists, or from a reliable source at Zuni. I'm able to recognize the work of several contemporary carvers, although most sign or initial their work today. And there is currently a big problem with Chinese imports (fake Zuni fetishes) being sold on the secondary market.

This, however, does look like the real thing. It is certainly "old style" in its simplicity. I don't feel competent enough to attempt an attribution as who may have made it, or the authenticity of the the stone.

Keep in mind, unless you witnessed turquoise being dug out of a specific mine, or have unquestionable provenance, it's just about impossible to "identify" a piece of turquoise, despite the number of claims to the contrary.

 

I have a couple of perfectly lovely lizard-on-a-rock pieces signed A LAMY/ZUNI. The signature is genuine, the work is Chinese. Lamy would peddle them around Zuni, but couldn't keep quiet about their origin, so word got out.

 

it's just about impossible to "identify" a piece of turquoise,

Hey Taupou...could u expand on this..?


I thought I could tell the difference between Sleeping beauty and Royston...or Kingman stones.....are you saying that the mines differences can't be proved...?..or similar stones came from different mines..
Or that the same matrix can be found in many other places..?

 

@ komokwa

The Lone Mountain Turquoise mine had a wide variety specimens,here is a more pictorial site with a number of differences from the mines .......... https://waddellgallery.com/pages/turquoise-materials

 

Well...that's an eye opener !!!

so, I guess I can recognize nice turquoise , but not always where it came from...

 

I, too, will always be of the school that unless you were standing there when it was mined it’s only a guess at best. I live in the SW and collect NA jewelry. As stated, mines can have multiple veins and some non US turquoise can look very similar to ours.

I think it’s a very slippery slope to try and identify turquoise.

All that aside,IMO the fetish is old and Zuni and very nice!

 

How would one put an age to this, since it is a old style fetish, could it be recent in that style or older? Obviously it's over 20yrs old but could it be 100yo, older?

 

One obvious way would be to check for evidence that modern tools were used in shaping it. The two long lines on the bottom, for example, do look a little suspect. As already mentioned, there are carvers today making "old style" fetishes.

 

Thanks @Taupou I really appreciate all the advice, and everyone else thank you all!!