Unique Vintage Navajo Silver Turquoise Pendant Necklace - Cylinder Beads - 21" For Sale

This vintage Navajo sterling silver necklace has been beautifully crafted. The pendant has a cluster of high quality turquoise stones at the center surrounded with silver applique "petals". The pendant can also be worn as a pin - however the silver loop would need to be opened to separate it from the necklace. The necklace has expertly hand crafted sterling cylinder beads strung on silver foxtail chain. This necklace hangs gracefully and is in great vintage condition.

necklace: 21" long.

pendant: 3 3/8" long by 1 7/8" across

weight: 1.9 ounces or 54 grams

Throughout the 40 years that I have been in business, I have purchased jewelry from pawn shops throughout the Southwest that had collections of dead pawn. Most of these pawn shops and trading posts are now closed. The Native American would pawn his jewelry for immediate cash. The shop would hold it and charge interest until he could reclaim it. Dead pawn are the pieces that were never retrieved. Old Pawn Jewelry typically dates from the early 1900s to the 1970s. Most of the early pieces are not signed because it wasn't the Native American tradition to sign the pieces they crafted. Also, the turquoise in old pawn is turquoise that you can't get anymore because many of the mines have closed. And, the red and orange coral is rare because of the coral bleaching which is happening today.

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