This pair of vintage silver & turquoise clip-on studs is probably from Bell Trading post or another New Mexican vendor of Native American made items like Maisel's. These earrings have tiny silver prongs or teeth framing the oblong or "needle" turquoise stone. The stone's setting is surrounded by silver scrollwork with a silver bead in the middle on the long sides & on the short sides (top/bottom) is a triad of classic silver beads. Like some of the other earrings in our listings, I don't know the proper name of this shape, but having grown up in the desert southwest, I recognize this iconic design.
These earrings are unmarked -- no alloy or hallmark/maker's mark. They could be nickel silver or sterling. I lean towards sterling because they do have a solid heft to them for their size as well as beautiful shine (which made photography challenging & I had to shade them to take pictures). Unlike the stones in some of our other listings, these stones contain some very visible matrix. They have not been polished or dipped -- we simply wiped the posts & backs (all areas where there would be skin contact) with a soft cloth. We believe the original backs were replaced with gold backs. The backs are good quality & their fit is very tight & secure. The earrings are about 0.6 inch (1.5 cm) deep (face + post) & 0.7 x 0.35 inches (1.8 cm x 9 mm). The stone is a long, narrow oblong shape approximately 0.43 x 0.16 inches (11 mm x 4 mm). Sadly, our scale is not sensitive enough to weigh them.
Obviously, there are a lot of unknowns here. What we do know is that they are decidedly old & that they come from a collection of silver & turquoise jewelry which included Bell jewelry with hallmarks (we will be listing most of her southwestern turquoise jewelry). We know that the woman who purchased, owned & wore them was a serious traveler & collector of everything including jewelry from all over the globe (especially Norway, she *loved* Norway -- if you do too, check out our store, we have so much Norway to add still). We also know she took incredibly good care of all her things, including her jewelry.
We have this same pair of earrings in posts with push back/butterfly closures for pierced ears as well. Please see our other listings if that interests you. :)
NOTE: Nearly all of the turquoise we will be listing looks lighter in colour in our photos than it does in person. The shine & glare is most daunting, but I did my best to represent all these pieces as true to color as possible. Of course, hues vary by monitor & device.
Pair # 7 of 11
Feel free to message us with questions, or let us know if you know something about these earrings. We combine shipping. Thank you for looking. :)
If you're curious about the history of Bell Trading Post like I was, you can read my little essay below:
In 1932, during the worst of the Great Depression, Bell Trading Post was founded in Albuquerque, New Mexico by Jack & Mildred Michelson. Their goal was to support their family selling Native American jewelry. Their name was a nod to Mildred’s maiden name, Bell.
Bell trading post utilized machinery & nickel silver to produce small, light jewelry more suited to the tourists tastes than the larger, heavier sterling silver jewelry with large stones generally preferred by the Native American population.
Jack Michelson passed away in 1957, leaving the company children, Jack, Douglas & Jacquelyn & in 1969, the company Sunbell Corporation was formed. Sunbell was the umbrella company for a variety of different merchandise lines, including “Bell Jewelry.” However, from that point forward, Bell Jewelry sported the “Sunbell” hallmark, the design brainchild of Jacquelyn.
The company was among the dominant sellers of southwestern style jewelry in the Western US tourism industry during much the 21st century. Of course, there were competitors, their fiercest being directly across the street — The Maisel Company which shuttered its doors in 1968. Maisel’s closure matched closely with the restructuring at Bell & the Sunbell Corporation purchased Maisel’s remaining inventory.
Over the years Bell Trading Post used numerous hallmarks, although for many years Jack did not file for trademarks on them. The hallmarks typically included the image of a bell or that of an arrow sign post with a bell sign hanging from it & as mentioned earlier, after the formation of Sunbell, their items typically featured the Sunbell hallmark.
riekenaandthejujubees thank you for looking! Please check out our other auctions as we work on decluttering our home, basement, workplaces and studio! o_O