What type of necklace is this?

April 8, 2023 4:50 PM

I have this antique necklace and I'm wondered where it was originally made and how old it might be. It's silver, and when I was searching for some similar rose beads I saw a few things listed as Navajo. I got it when I was a child at the antique fair in Alameda, California. Have you seen anything like it?
posted by pinochiette to Media & Arts (10 answers total)

Look very carefully at the clasp. Is there a makers mark?
posted by bq at 9:40 PM on April 8, 2023

This is a necklace with typical silver beads from Bali or India, these are less expensive items used as spacers or connectors in silver to stone, bead necklaces. The more plain silver pieces are often used as findings in Native American jewelry. I started making jewelry many years ago, then my mom took it up, and dropped a house on it, I mean she had 150 pounds of beads, findings and all. I still have some of these very beads around. I quit making necklaces and then lately I repair pieces with the leftovers. Here
posted by Oyéah at 9:49 PM on April 8, 2023 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: The rose-shaped beads look almost identical to this Native American necklace and I see the other bead shapes on this page about Navajo jewelry, so it seems most likely that it's a Navajo necklace. (Now that I look more closely at the clasp, which has no mark, I also see that the design there also might have the "naja" shape carved into it.) I wonder if the rose shape was copied from Spanish rosaries. I never would have guessed initially that this was Navajo...curious if anyone else knows more about the history.
posted by pinochiette at 5:52 AM on April 9, 2023

I would question the accuracy of the provenance of a random "Native American" necklace on ebay. I have a truckload of costume jewelry inherited from my (very white, very middle class) grandmother and at least one piece has those rose beads. She liked to make a lot of her own jewelry, and her tastes ran cheap and cheerful.
posted by jeoc at 6:41 AM on April 9, 2023 [2 favorites]

About that clasp: I have the identical clasp attached to a strand of malachite beads I bought brand new in Atlanta from a commercial retailer about 25 years ago. It in no way, shape, or form, says Navajo or Native American to me. I agree with the other posters that I doubt this is Native American.

I suspect you're getting that vibe from the elongated beads that are (sort of) similarly shaped to the beads in necklaces like this.
posted by sardonyx at 8:09 AM on April 9, 2023

Yes, the clasp looks like a fairly common style of (I think originally Victorian) fish hook filigree clasp. Here's one example (obviously not sterling silver in this case though!). So I don't think the clasp itself is a clue of the necklace's origin.
posted by wintersweet at 8:39 AM on April 9, 2023

Response by poster: Here's another related example (though I've seen several more now that I've searched)- the silver "melon" beads are supposedly characteristically Navajo, and I've seen enough other similarities that I still think it's the most likely explanation. It's not visible in the picture but I was referring to a particular horseshoe shaped pattern on the clasp. Anyway, I'll take it to a local Native American jewelry shop when I have a chance to get their opinion.
posted by pinochiette at 8:45 AM on April 9, 2023

When I said identical, I meant identical. By refering to the "naja" or horseshoe pattern, I assume you meant the open heart-shaped scrolls I'm seeing on my clasp. (If not, it's only because I can't zoom in on your picture to get a really clear view.)
posted by sardonyx at 8:54 AM on April 9, 2023 [1 favorite]

I have some of those very beads and that clasp, purchased in a mall bead shop on the east coast of the US in the 1970s or 1980s. It may have been made by anyone, anywhere; there's no reason to think it's Navajo. It may be that some Navajo jewelry makers have used mass-market beads in some of their creations.
posted by metonym at 11:41 AM on April 9, 2023 [3 favorites]

the silver "melon" beads are supposedly characteristically Navajo

Whether or not the origin of the bead style is Navajo, that does not necessarily mean that the specific beads on your specific necklace are themselves Navajo. And I hate to break it to you, but you can buy a bag of ten of them on ebay for under four dollars. And those rose-shaped beads are even cheaper.

It's far more likely that some hobbyist jeweler back in the 80s made a crapton of necklaces just like that for the craft-sale market in that area than it is that you have an antique of any kind, I'm afraid.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 3:53 PM on April 9, 2023 [3 favorites]