Pre-50's Navajo Style Old Pawn Genuine Turquoise Sterling Silver Squash Blossom Necklace.

This Squash Blossom Necklace is a gorgeous work of art. This one is full of natural character with hand-cut stones of genuine Turquoise that appear to be from the Kingman mine. The Turquoise stones have been set in stunning hand made Sterling Silver of a heavy gauge. In keeping with the tradition of artists of those times, many necklaces are unsigned. However, this squash is hand-made, including the many bench beads. Each bench bead is created from scratch by knocking out a circle of Sterling Silver, doming it, drilling a hole through it and soldering it to a second half. This sensational necklace is 26" long and the naja is 3-1/4" long. You will be receiving the item in the pictures below.

This item is pre-50's Navajo-style Old Pawn jewelry made out of heavy gauge Sterling Silver and genuine American Turquoise, such as Kingman, Battle Mountain, Hachita, Sleeping Beauty or Mojave. This Turquoise is from Richard's collection and has been out of the mine for thirty years, making it difficult to 100% accurately identify. This jewelry appears to be a hundred years old and was created based on early twentieth century pieces displayed in old magazines such as Arizona Highways.

Throughout the Indian lands the trading posts serve as pawn shops, with the trader usually involved in a pragmatic form of banking - part of the process known as pawning. Most reservation Indians convert their cash into silver and Turquoise jewelry and woven articles made from their Native wool. When in need of money or commodities their assets are used as securities for loans. At times the trading post vault is the safest place in which to keep valuables. In this case the Native American pawns the items for a minimum loan and is happy to pay the interest rate in return for the security of his goods. If the articles are not redeemed after the contractual length of time, they become "dead pawn" otherwise known as an "old pawn" and may be sold by the trader.