Posted 7 years ago
thestuffwe…
(1 item)
This is my 1st post here. Here goes.
My wife is the daughter of jewellery dealer and luckily for her over the years she received numerous gifts from him.
Included in her collection is this bangle that is made up of 3 daisies the biggest one measuring 25mm across. The petals appear to made up of shell but the patterned centre enamelled.
She believes she has had this bangle for over 25 years but could be mistaken.
On the back is a single mark as seen in picture 3. The Circle on the middle of a cross. Not sure what is inside the circle, but maybe a 'T' but I am guessing.
Is this a mark for silver? Any information regarding this piece would be gratefully received.
Thanks for your time.
Dan
Very beautiful and original!
On the pic of the mark to the bottom left, do I see some letters?
Unfortunately I believe that is just a nick in the metal, and below that was just dirt. But thanks for looking.
A beautiful inlay cuff bracelet! The mark is a pictograph. There are quite a few listed here. but no idea if yours is one of them. The design looks to be Zuni, but I didn't find that particular mark under Zuni jewelry marks.
http://www.art-amerindien.com/signature_picto-hallmarks.htm#zuni
@efesgirl Thank You so much!
I think the mark matches the one for Sadie & Morris from the link you posted, the 1st of the 2 marks they have on there.
I'll do some more research, as I know very little about this style.
Thanks again.
You're welcome!
The 'daisies' & the mark as well are all sunfaces & really go the other way up. The 'cross' of the mark is made by the stylized rays of the sun. The sunface is an important image for all the native peoples of the American Southwest, so the motif appears frequently in Zuni, Navajo & Hopi jewelry. I agree with Efesgirl that this inlay work looks most like Zuni, using mother of pearl, turquoise, coral & black onyx or jet. I'm a bit perplexed by the mark, as one site I found says the sunface is a 'shop mark' used by the Hopi, not indicative of any particular artisan. Quite possible it is Zuni-made but ended up as inventory in a Hopi shop.
The petals/rays are very unusual. I was not able to determine from the photos what type of shell they were cut from. They strike me as being cowrie, a type of shell not used commonly by Native American jewelers.
@cameosleuth
Thank you very much for the information, very interesting.
Having thought the mark looked liked Sadie & Morris, I searched their work and others, I noticed that the inlaid Sunfaces match exactly like others 'porporting' to be their work, though none of these used the same shell, they did use various materials such as tortoise shell, abalone shell etc . Also the style of bangle, they have used the exact same one before. The link below is an example but there were others. I do understand I shouldn't believe every thing I see on the internet, it was just that there were number of pieces backing this up. The mark too, which I don't know if you can see that clearly is exactly the same. I notice with a lot of other Sunface marks that the suns have rays all over where is this one is just the circle with lines (rays) just at the NESW of it, which makes it look like a cross. I was convinced it was their work.
http://www.icollector.com/Sunface-Cuff-Ring-by-Sadie-Morris-Laahte_i21628631
Is it possible other makers use the exact same Sunface in their work? Also was this style of bangle used by others, that various makers used to put their own designs in.
The mark in the link above is probably a little clearer than mine but looks identical.
I don't know my shells but looking at other cowrie shells, I think you could be right.
Excuse my ignorance, though not new to jewellery I am new to native American made jewellery.
Thanks again for your time.
I agree, the mark looks like the one used by the Laahtes. Think you can mark this mystery solved. If, as it says at the link you provided, the sunface is a favorite motif of their work, not surprising they would have done it in a variety of materials, including some that are not so traditional. What are you posting next? :)