Southwest Style Jewelry
Because we are back to conducting estate sales full time (following the Restore Illinois Phase 3 guidelines) I will not be able to crank out quite as many jewelry postings but I am committed to keeping on with the jewelry project. I have moved to the new schedule of posting jewelry lots twice a week on Wednesday and Sunday evenings as opposed to three times a week on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday evenings. I posted the above lot on Wednesday, featuring Southwest style sterling silver and turquoise jewelry. This type of jewelry is a hot button topic with Native American jewelry purists. The administrator of a Southwest and Native American jewelry Facebook group started a firestorm of controversy when he posted recently that he does not care where jewelry comes from - China, India, Pakistan, the Philippines etc. - if it is Southwest style or Native American he will allow it to be sold in his group. I did not participate in that discussion because of all of the anger spewing from it but I definitely have an opinion and decided to share it here.
While I agree with the purists that it is very important to support Native American arts, I do not agree that the only "right" way to purchase it is directly from the artist. I feel that resellers provide a valuable service by keeping these historical pieces of art out of the scrap heap and into the hands of people who love and appreciate them. Southwest style jewelry deserves to have its place in the world as well. I do not sell jewelry that is a flagrant copy of Native American pieces but rather jewelry that is inspired by the Southwest lifestyle and desert color palette. I am sure to accurately describe whatever I sell because I do not want the buyer to think a piece is Native American made when it is not. As an example, the three beautiful rings in this lot were made by an Anglo artist but they are genuine turquoise and sterling silver. In my opinion this is the epitome of Southwest style. I do not advertise this type of jewelry in arenas that only allow authentic Native American pieces to be posted. There are fewer venues to sell this jewelry on Facebook so as a result more pieces will likely be available when I am ready to post them to the online store.
From this group, the Liberty dime ring, the arrowhead earrings, the bracelet with turquoise, moonstone and freshwater pearls and one of the two turquoise slab earrings like the one at the left have sold, the remaining items are available.
This week our friend Jeff had a multi-estate liquidation sale at his store in Wheeling and he kindly allowed me to add some sterling silver and costume jewelry to his sale. I spent a day going through my pending silver buckets to choose pieces to give Jeff, as well as sorting silver into other categories including Mexican, antique to vintage and designer. The long-range plan is to list all of that jewelry online. Any pieces that do not fall into these categories will be reserved for the jewelry caravan at future estate sales, whenever I feel comfortable presenting it again. There is plenty to go around!
While I agree with the purists that it is very important to support Native American arts, I do not agree that the only "right" way to purchase it is directly from the artist. I feel that resellers provide a valuable service by keeping these historical pieces of art out of the scrap heap and into the hands of people who love and appreciate them. Southwest style jewelry deserves to have its place in the world as well. I do not sell jewelry that is a flagrant copy of Native American pieces but rather jewelry that is inspired by the Southwest lifestyle and desert color palette. I am sure to accurately describe whatever I sell because I do not want the buyer to think a piece is Native American made when it is not. As an example, the three beautiful rings in this lot were made by an Anglo artist but they are genuine turquoise and sterling silver. In my opinion this is the epitome of Southwest style. I do not advertise this type of jewelry in arenas that only allow authentic Native American pieces to be posted. There are fewer venues to sell this jewelry on Facebook so as a result more pieces will likely be available when I am ready to post them to the online store.
From this group, the Liberty dime ring, the arrowhead earrings, the bracelet with turquoise, moonstone and freshwater pearls and one of the two turquoise slab earrings like the one at the left have sold, the remaining items are available.
This week our friend Jeff had a multi-estate liquidation sale at his store in Wheeling and he kindly allowed me to add some sterling silver and costume jewelry to his sale. I spent a day going through my pending silver buckets to choose pieces to give Jeff, as well as sorting silver into other categories including Mexican, antique to vintage and designer. The long-range plan is to list all of that jewelry online. Any pieces that do not fall into these categories will be reserved for the jewelry caravan at future estate sales, whenever I feel comfortable presenting it again. There is plenty to go around!
I just posted these fabulous pieces by Elysium Inc to my online store this morning. Elysium Inc jewelry is hand made in Mexico. This collection is done in sterling silver and features bumblebee jasper which is such a hot stone right now and amazonite composite which is also gorgeous. The pieces have a bumblebee and floral theme which is so unique. They are not inexpensive but are very unusual and great quality.
I discovered this morning that I was able to further consolidate the categories in my online store. For example, I was able to create categories for Native American Jewelry and Mexican Jewelry with sub-categories for Vintage and New. I love this improvement because I can refer people to the top category if they are interested in vintage or new pieces, rather than pointing out two separate categories. And if desired, folks can visit the Vintage and/or New categories specifically.
Next week I will plan to have two jewelry lots to report on as tonight I will be posting a lot in addition to another on Wednesday. I just received a package in the mail yesterday with wonderful Native American jewelry. I absolutely love every piece, they are wonderful quality and designer signed. If there is space, I will add in some Native American estate pieces tonight as well. There will probably be enough to post another Native American lot on Wednesday as some more estate jewelry just came in, including a gorgeous turquoise statement necklace. Unless more Native American jewelry comes in, I will then go back to alternating Southwest style and Mexican jewelry lots. See you next time!
I discovered this morning that I was able to further consolidate the categories in my online store. For example, I was able to create categories for Native American Jewelry and Mexican Jewelry with sub-categories for Vintage and New. I love this improvement because I can refer people to the top category if they are interested in vintage or new pieces, rather than pointing out two separate categories. And if desired, folks can visit the Vintage and/or New categories specifically.
Next week I will plan to have two jewelry lots to report on as tonight I will be posting a lot in addition to another on Wednesday. I just received a package in the mail yesterday with wonderful Native American jewelry. I absolutely love every piece, they are wonderful quality and designer signed. If there is space, I will add in some Native American estate pieces tonight as well. There will probably be enough to post another Native American lot on Wednesday as some more estate jewelry just came in, including a gorgeous turquoise statement necklace. Unless more Native American jewelry comes in, I will then go back to alternating Southwest style and Mexican jewelry lots. See you next time!