The various designs of onyx earrings available may pique the interest of those who value exquisite fashion jewelry. Onyx, a luxuriously dark stone, instantly elevates the look of any piece of jewelry it’s placed in. It’s a popular complement to gold for making an eye-catching statement. It is also commonly used in conjunction with sterling silver to create one-of-a-kind jewelry designs typical of Native American aesthetics.
The silver and turquoise items are the most well-known, whereas the onyx jewelry is less well-known. Earrings in this collection come in both clip-on and pierced designs. Either as a huge stone in a plain silver setting or as dangling beaded earrings. Onyx and turquoise set in a sterling silver hoop will be used in some of the Native American earrings. These accessories, with their sophisticated yet earthy vibe, may be worn with anything from a cocktail dress to a t-shirt and jeans.
Colorful images can be improved when onyx is put into specific patterns. This is a common feature of dangling earrings that feature a butterfly or flower. Black onyx, along with other gemstones like turquoise, is set into the many compartments to create a one-of-a-kind work of art. These onyx creations range from traditional to modern to laid-back, so there’s sure to be a pair that suits your taste.
History of Native American Turquoise Jewelry in The USA¶
Southwestern Native Americans have long admired turquoise for its striking blue and green tones. Turquoise was mined and fashioned into sacred and exceptional artifacts by entire societies in what is now New Mexico and Nevada. Long before the arrival of Europeans, American Indians had been crafting necklaces and other jewelry from turquoise by hand. Due of its rarity and value, turquoise was traded often among the indigenous peoples of the Americas, who eventually gave the beautiful blue stone its distinctive name. The Cerrillos turquoise mines are located in New Mexico’s Santa Fe Basin, and scientific analysis has confirmed that certain ancient beads unearthed in Central and South America were mined there.
Silversmithing techniques were given to the New World by Europeans, and American Indians who learned the profession ultimately began combining silver and turquoise to create their unique style of jewelry. It is thought that a Zuni man named Kineshde was the first to incorporate turquoise into his handcrafted silverware in the late 1800s.
High fashion with turquoise earrings in the United States in the early 1890s, but at the time, only a small number of deposits of high-quality turquoise were known to exist in the country, so most of the demand was met by turquoise from Iran. Shortly after the turn of the twentieth century, Americans began to learn that American turquoise from the Western United States was equal to any in the world. These deposits had been exploited by Native Americans in the past and were thought to be exhausted. Around 1908–1910, mining activity picked back up, and a lot of American turquoise, primarily from Nevada, were extracted. Before 1910, the bulk of Turquoise jewelry was crafted by prestigious jewelry houses like Tiffany’s, by the prevailing Victorian fashions of the time.
None of it resembled the turquoise jewelry we associate with Native Americans. A small number of Native Americans did create works in the now-recognized traditional style, but they produced very little and their primitive equipment increased the number of man-hours required to complete each item. Traditional silver-and-turquoise jewelry designs didn’t emerge until around that time. It wasn’t until the 1920s that individuals in the United States outside of the Southwest began to appreciate the beauty of turquoise and authentic Indian jewelry.
During those heydays of cross-country rail travel, the southwest saw a proliferation of Harvey House restaurants. At first, Indian jewelry was primarily offered as a novelty to curious diners at western restaurants. The most popular jewelry items were earrings and skinny, little bracelets with turquoise set in symmetrically cut small oval stones. The works created during this era are commonly referred to as “Fred Harvey style” works. By 1925, when the famous squash-blossom necklaces were first offered to the tourist market, heavy Indian jewelry became fashionable. By 1940, most Indian artisans stopped making squash-blossom necklaces because they were excessively labor-intensive and expensive.
A plain silver belt was replaced in the 1920s and 1930s by a more elaborate belt including one to several turquoise stones set into each concho. Tourist jewelry from that period is now highly sought by collectors. The potential for the selling of Native American jewelry to offer a steady income to tribes all around Arizona and New Mexico started to become apparent. Around that time, several Native American reservations offered lessons and workshops to teach young men the art of crafting sterling silver and turquoise jewelry in the Native American manner. In the decades that followed, these institutions produced several very gifted painters.
After World War II, many Americans took cross-country travels, and while in the Arizona-New Mexico region, they came across traders who stocked their stores with Native American jewelry they sold as “pawn items.” Most of these items were pieces of jewelry that individual Indians had produced and pawned for cash or as a safe location to keep valuables. Because of the extensive demand for these pawn pieces, several trading posts sprouted up across the Southwest, and information about this hitherto unknown type of jewelry quickly traveled throughout the rest of the country. Jewelry designers also became creative to fulfill the needs of the expanding tourism industry. Appreciators of the stunning American turquoise started picking up on the commonalities between mines in terms of matrix patterns, color, etc. It was during this time, in the early 1950s, that turquoise began to be marketed under brand names such as Lone Mountain, Royston, Blue Gem, and others, based on the location of the mines where they were originally discovered.
Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, more and more Native Americans stuck to their traditions and made silver jewelry by hand. The rising availability of materials began allowing a wider audience to view and enjoy this magnificent kind of jewelry art, which had previously only been popular in the southwest region of the United States. Yet, its widespread popularity in the United States did not emerge until the late 1960s and early 1970s. Turquoise jewelry, with its understated elegance and natural charm, was all the rage in 1950s America. The ancient pawn jewelry skyrocketed in price, and a fad for Indian turquoise jewelry drove up demand (and prices) to unprecedented heights.
The reopening of several mines and the import of Indian “style” jewelry created by manufacturers in Mexico, Taiwan, and the Philippines are direct results of the rise in both pricing and demand. By 1981, synthetic, stable, and plastic replica materials were abundant on the market, but hardly anyone wanted to buy them. Most American turquoise mines shuttered after the market crashed and have stayed close ever since. The early 1980s marked the low point in demand for turquoise, but the popularity of the gem has been steadily rising ever since. Although most American mines have stayed closed, the price of genuine American turquoise has risen significantly in recent years due to increased demand.
