Spring and summer are fast approaching and we are gearing up to bring you the latest and greatest in new and exciting Southwest jewelry, in all the colors of the rainbow to brighten and complement your wardrobe. The trend in spiny oyster continues this year with lots to choose from in vibrant orange, red, purple and yellow, as well as a vast selection of jewelry with lapis, coral, sugilite, charoite, gaspeite and, of course, many shades of turquoise, from green to sky blue. Recently on the market is a new green shade of turquoise called San Gabriel, which comes from northern Mexico. We hope to have some pieces with this stone by show time.
Also available will be a great selection of Santo Domingo and Zuni jewelry, whose artists really enjoy the use of color. Zuni artists in particular are getting into the spirit of spring with motifs of dragonflies, birds, sun faces, flowers and butterflies in their jewelry.
From Gallup, New Mexico, comes some great works by a group of artists known as “Stoneweaver”. Stoneweaver is made up of approximately sixteen very talented Navajo and Zuni inlay artists, who have between 5 and 30 years of experience in silversmithing and making inlayed jewelry. They create some amazing pieces with rhodochrosite, lapis, onyx, tiger’s eye, picture jasper, turquoise, mother-of-pearl and man-made opal. More recently, a new stone called Morado opal has been added to the list of extensive and interesting stones. This gem comes from a mine in northern Mexico. Although we have seen some pieces with Morado opal, the buzz in the Indian jewelry world is that it is about to become very difficult to get in Indian Jewelry. Still, we’ll do our best to bring some of this interesting stone to you.
In addition, coral is getting harder to get; artists are having difficulty finding pieces large enough to be cut down for inlay work as well as pieces that are free from inclusions that naturally appear in coral. Acquiring decent material has become cost prohibitive for them. In fact, we aren’t finding very many pieces inlayed with coral these days, so if you are interested in adding coral jewelry to your collection, now may be the time to do it. Red spiny oyster is fast replacing coral as the material of choice due to its availability (although not as expensive as coral, it’s not inexpensive either, because of the risks involved in its harvest). Nevertheless, we will continue to do our best to find jewelry with good quality coral for you.
As we go to press, Alton Bedonie continues to create new masterpieces for us. His bolos and buckles utilize 10 and 12 gauge plate silver. Translation – they are heavy (around 5 ounces)! He is currently working on a new necklace which we hope to have by show time as well. As always, we expect Alton’s work to sell quickly, so be sure to come in early!
Other famous and award-winning artists whose work we will have available for sale include Charles Loloma, Sherian Honhongva, Al Nez, Carl & Irene Clark, Donnie Supplee, Bruce Hodgins, Myron Panteah, Kee Yazzie, Alex Sanchez, Jack & Mary Tom, Bruce Morgan, and many others.
See you at the show!
Thanks, Eric