Is it safe to call this Native American when it is only signed 'Coin silver" ... also it is possible to attribute this to a certain tribe if it is in fact NA based on design motifs.
It has some red residue that almost looks like paint? I could clean it off but not if it is intentional, was there ever a precedent of silver items being painted or enameled in this tradition of silversmithing? This was found with a bunch of really old jewelry, mostly broken, at an estate sale a few weeks ago so for all I know the previous owner painted it herself/himself.
Thanks for any help.
There are a number of tribes that make Silver jewelry. Your piece is all coin silver it means like they melted a bunch of pre-1965 coins and hammered out this piece. Coin silver is 90% or 900 silver where as 925 is the same purity as Sterling silver. If it had stones, such as turquoise. It would be easier to identify the tribe, but not to an exact certainty. Signed pieces would be a better way to denote a specific tribe.
Navajo when using turquoise, uses huge stones with small silver amounts. Zuni uses the reverse practice many tiny stones with a large amount of silver, for some examples.
Your piece is contemporary. Probably early-late 70's. The piece is largely primitive and uses fairly simple construction. It is hand-made and of Native American motiffs and design. Probably from a student of silversmithing or an early piece of an unknown artist. Many many listings of this type of bracelet are listed on EBAY. Coin silver does have a certain draw in some circles as it indicates that it was made by a Native American. Mexico and other countries would use 925 950 and Sterling as an alloy to make silver jewelry. Enamelling would not easily wipe off. Also in order for it to be enamelled piece it would have to be fine silver or copper in order for the enamelling to adhere or stick to the piece.
To determine price would be by weight, the alloy used and the difficulty of the manufacture of the piece. It does have excellent stampings and pleasing arrangements. But is simple construction. Hope I didn't go overboard with my answer. 🙂
Go do an ebay search for "concho style bracelet" Typically this style is from New Mexico, from the Pueblo Indians in that state. You can look for like style and weight and construction type to better gauge a price. If it were older you would see cracking. Silver by nature gets harder with wearing it. Odd how certain metals behave. If it were 60's or older this cracking would be most prominant on parts of the bracelet. Only a jeweler can soften the Silver and restore it for another 50 years or more of wearing it. You would heat up the entire piece (with a torch) to a cherry red (almost at melting point) then quench it in water a few times this is called annealing. This softens the silver. Tumbling it in a rock tumbler with steel shot for a few hours will work harden it again at the right amount for every day wear.
Simple interesting testing of this theory can be done with some silver sheet hammer it on both sides several times it will become so rigid and hard it may even eventually shatter into pieces. Older pre 1960's rings and other jewelry are often broken in places due to this nature of silver in general. It is not an exact science to determine age of a piece but is a good start. It will enable you, in the future to better judge these things in other jewelry you find or buy. To anneal any piece in silver all stones would have to be removed.
