Here's a stunning, dead pawn, turquoise and sterling silver ring that we purchased from a well known pawn trader in northern Arizona, adjacent to the Navajo Reservation. We visit this trader twice each year (even though it's an 800 mile trip) because of his remarkable knowledge of older Native American jewelry, his unquestioned honesty and the wonderful selection of jewelry he always has for sale.
This ring was made to feature it's gorgeous, highly polished, turquoise stone that the artist set in a silver saw tooth bezel and surrounded with a silver twisted rope and a row of silver raindrop beads.
The stone is mounted on a very unusual silver band that is adorned with hand stamped designs and a bunch of silver applications.
This size 8 ring weighs 26.6 grams and it's 1+3/8" long. The back is stamped sterling and has the artist's hallmark.
Due to State laws that regulate what information pawn traders are allowed to give out we were unable to learn the artist's name. However, we were told that the ring was made by a local Navajo silversmith, who had made it for himself, but had to "pawn" the ring to get some money to pay his bills. Unfortunately, this is fairly common these days because the current economic situation is hurting many of the Native American artists very badly.
This terrific example of genuine, handmade, Native American craftsmanship will certainly make a wonderful addition to your jewelry collection, or wouldn't it make a great gift for that special someone in your life?
Peace . . . JJ & Eddie
