Rare Vintage Navaho Bisbee Lavender Pit Turquoise Squash Blossom Necklace
Rare vintage Bisbee Navaho Lavender Pit Turquoise Squash Blossom Necklace. This squash blossom necklace comes with the original appraisal dated June 10, 1974. I have included a photo of the store that I found on the web. The Jewel Box opened in May of 1949 and closed its doors in May of 2006.
It was owned by Morris (Morrey) Reznik. He was well liked and was known as the Pawnfather. He passed away at age 89 in 2010. The original appraisal that you will receive was signed by Morreys wife whose name was Honeylou. The necklace is Navaho and is sterling silver.
The turquoise is from the Bisbee mine which was founded in the mid 1870s. By the time it closed in 1975, it was considered to be the richest mine in the world. It produced copper, gold, silver and billions of pounds of lead and zinc.
Along with the metals it produced Malichite, Azurite and of course Turquoise. In the 1950s a large deposit of turquoise was found in the Lavender Pit.
Most of this turquoise was dumped with the rest of the mining waste. The story says that the miners would fill their empty lunchboxes with turquoise even though the mining companies prohibited the turquoise to be taken out by the miners due to liability issue. In the 1960s Bisbee Turquoise was considered the finest turquoise ever seen.
In 1972 Robert Matthews obtained the only lease given anyone to work the debris from The Lavender Pit. The lease was for 2 years. He and his team recovered about 2000 pounds of excellent quality Bisbee Turquoise. The Bisbee Turquoise is very much sought after. Small amounts of turquoise still come out because Mine Robbers sneak into the mine under the cover of darkness to hunt for pieces of this fine mineral. Now to describe this wonderful necklace. The necklace measures 26 not including the Naja which measures 2.5 x 2.5.I have not cleaned the necklace. I will let you determine if you want the patina or if you want a more shiny look. Please see all the photos.
There are markings on the back of the Naja. If you need more info, please ask. The item "Rare Vintage Navaho Bisbee Lavender Pit Turquoise Squash Blossom Necklace" is in sale since Sunday, March 17, 2019.
This item is in the category "Jewelry & Watches\Ethnic, Regional & Tribal\Native American\Necklaces & Pendants". The seller is "cherod123" and is located in Salem, South Carolina. This item can be shipped to United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Denmark, Romania, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Czech republic, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Estonia, Australia, Greece, Portugal, Cyprus, Slovenia, Japan, China, Sweden, South Korea, Indonesia, Taiwan, South africa, Thailand, Belgium, France, Hong Kong, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria, Bahamas, Israel, Mexico, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland, Norway, Saudi arabia, United arab emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Croatia, Malaysia, Chile, Colombia, Iceland, Macao, Martinique, Reunion, Uruguay, Barbados, Bangladesh, Bermuda, Brunei darussalam, Bolivia, Egypt, French guiana, Guernsey, Gibraltar, Guadeloupe, Jersey, Jordan, Cambodia, Cayman islands, Liechtenstein, Sri lanka, Luxembourg, Monaco, Maldives, Nicaragua, Oman, Pakistan, Paraguay.- Featured Refinements: Squash Blossom Necklace
- Country/Region of Manufacture: United States
- Metal Purity: Sterling
- Main Stone: Turquoise
- Jewelry Type: Necklaces
- Tribal Affiliation: Navajo