Here's a very old, turquoise & silver, child's size, "tourist" bracelet that we purchased from a well respected pawn trader in northern Arizona, adjacent to the Navajo Reservation.
This old beauty, from the "Fred Harvey" era, features a round turquoise stone at the center that's surrounded by a silver twisted rope. The stone is mounted on a nicely carved silver shank that's adorned with very intricate, hand stamped, Native American designs and symbols.
Look carefully at the pictures to see the wonderful detail work on this small bracelet. The artist must have spent many hours doing all of this stamp work.
The inside of the bracelet measures 4+1/2" long plus there's a gap of 3/4". It weighs 6 grams and measures 1/2" wide.
The inside of the shank is stamped Sanford but as with most older Native American jewelry there's no mark indicating the silver content. However, due to the very obvious patina, we are quite sure that it's sterling silver.
The pawn trader, who has very extensive knowledge of older Native American jewelry, told us that this is a perfect example of "Fred Harvey" era jewelry and that it was probably made during the 1920's - 1930's.
As previously mentioned, this is a child's size bracelet. It has some flexibility so a small, careful, size adjustment can be made.
Despite it's age and travels this old beauty is still in very good condition. The turquoise stone, which shows no cracks nor chips, is set firmly in it's bezel and the silver shows practically no signs of wear.
The bracelet can certainly use some cleaning but we'll leave that for it's next owner. Our policy is that we don't clean dead pawn or vintage jewelry as most of our customers prefer to receive these older pieces "as is".
