Okay this one is weird in exactly the right way. It has the bones of a squash blossom, but somebody basically took the traditional format apart and rebuilt it as this compact, leafy little collar.
Six Bisbee stones, double-strand handmade silver beads, hand-applied raindrops everywhere, twisted wire, and those sculptural silver leaves curling over the turquoise. Then the bottom stone drops independently instead of resolving into a traditional naja.
At only 16 inches, it sits high and close. This thing is going to look absolutely killer on.
WHY THIS PIECE MATTERS
What gets me here is the silversmith’s willingness to play with an established vocabulary.
You can see the ancestry of the squash blossom necklace—the double strand, graduated turquoise stations, handmade beads, bilateral composition—but almost every familiar element has been reinterpreted. Blossoms become leafy silver flourishes. The naja disappears. The center becomes a single articulated turquoise drop.
And the Bisbee is fantastic for this design. These aren’t six interchangeable blue stones. Each has its own little geography of brown matrix running through that saturated Arizona blue, and the maker deliberately gave each stone enough silver architecture to stand alone.
It’s traditional Southwestern jewelry that doesn’t feel trapped by tradition.
ARTIFACT REGISTRY
Artifact Name: Bisbee Vine
Maker: Unsigned / Unknown Native American Silversmith
Origin: Southwest, United States
Materials: Silver & natural Bisbee turquoise
Length: 16 inches
Weight: 110 grams
Turquoise: Six Bisbee cabochons
Construction: Double-strand handmade silver beads, individually fabricated turquoise stations, twisted-wire borders, silver raindrops, repoussé/applied leaf elements & articulated center drop
Era: Vintage
Collector’s Gallery Value: $5100-$5900
CURATOR’S FIELD OBSERVATION
The composition is much more sophisticated than it first appears.
The stones increase in visual weight as they approach the center, but the maker breaks the symmetry with differences in stone shape and matrix. Those silver leaves then sweep across each setting in different directions, keeping the necklace from becoming repetitive.
The central pendant is the payoff: a large Bisbee stone surrounded by raindrops and opposing leaves, suspended so it can actually move.
The whole necklace has that slightly irregular, human quality I want from vintage handmade silver. Nothing feels stamped out.
ERIC’S NOTES FROM THE FIELD
This is one where 76 grams tells you almost nothing about how much presence it has.
Because instead of putting all that silver into one giant naja, the maker spread the architecture across the entire necklace. Every turquoise station becomes its own little object.
And I LOVE the 16-inch length. This isn’t disappearing halfway down your shirt.
It lives right up around the collarbone where everyone can see the damn thing.
Okay this one is weird in exactly the right way. It has the bones of a squash blossom, but somebody basically took the traditional format apart and rebuilt it as this compact, leafy little collar.
Six Bisbee stones, double-strand handmade silver beads, hand-applied raindrops everywhere, twisted wire, and those sculptural silver leaves curling over the turquoise. Then the bottom stone drops independently instead of resolving into a traditional naja.
At only 16 inches, it sits high and close. This thing is going to look absolutely killer on.
WHY THIS PIECE MATTERS
What gets me here is the silversmith’s willingness to play with an established vocabulary.
You can see the ancestry of the squash blossom necklace—the double strand, graduated turquoise stations, handmade beads, bilateral composition—but almost every familiar element has been reinterpreted. Blossoms become leafy silver flourishes. The naja disappears. The center becomes a single articulated turquoise drop.
And the Bisbee is fantastic for this design. These aren’t six interchangeable blue stones. Each has its own little geography of brown matrix running through that saturated Arizona blue, and the maker deliberately gave each stone enough silver architecture to stand alone.
It’s traditional Southwestern jewelry that doesn’t feel trapped by tradition.
ARTIFACT REGISTRY
Artifact Name: Bisbee Vine
Maker: Unsigned / Unknown Native American Silversmith
Origin: Southwest, United States
Materials: Silver & natural Bisbee turquoise
Length: 16 inches
Weight: 110 grams
Turquoise: Six Bisbee cabochons
Construction: Double-strand handmade silver beads, individually fabricated turquoise stations, twisted-wire borders, silver raindrops, repoussé/applied leaf elements & articulated center drop
Era: Vintage
Collector’s Gallery Value: $5100-$5900
CURATOR’S FIELD OBSERVATION
The composition is much more sophisticated than it first appears.
The stones increase in visual weight as they approach the center, but the maker breaks the symmetry with differences in stone shape and matrix. Those silver leaves then sweep across each setting in different directions, keeping the necklace from becoming repetitive.
The central pendant is the payoff: a large Bisbee stone surrounded by raindrops and opposing leaves, suspended so it can actually move.
The whole necklace has that slightly irregular, human quality I want from vintage handmade silver. Nothing feels stamped out.
ERIC’S NOTES FROM THE FIELD
This is one where 76 grams tells you almost nothing about how much presence it has.
Because instead of putting all that silver into one giant naja, the maker spread the architecture across the entire necklace. Every turquoise station becomes its own little object.
And I LOVE the 16-inch length. This isn’t disappearing halfway down your shirt.
It lives right up around the collarbone where everyone can see the damn thing.
