Large bail pendant w/golden hills turquoise

NAVAJO HANDCRAFTED PENDANT BY DUE M&R CALLADITTO GOLDEN HILLS TURQUOISE

Handcrafted by Navajo husband and wife due Michael & Rosita Calladitto. This beautiful pendant features a large piece of high grade golden hills turquoise. Set in solid sterling silver with a brushed finish. The pendant measures 2"1/2 in total length, the setting measuring 1"5/8 in length with a 1" long pear shaped stone. The artists have used uniquely stamped spheres surrounding the stone that give this piece a very traditional look. The bail is large enough to accommodate multiple strands of beads or stone necklace.

Stone: In the Russian hills of Kazakhstan sits the GOLDEN HILLS mine. The Turquoise is only mined in the winter months during the freezing cold and snow as rains flood the mine during the summer. The location of the mine is remote and difficult to bring equipment in and out of. It is the only Turquoise known to have the unique coloring of bright blue with a Lavender undertone.

Artist:(M&R CALLADITTO) hallmark / Michael Calladitto is best known for traditional Navajo style jewelry using Sterling Silver & turquoise with deeply stamped designs. He loves working with turquoise and says that the stone make him more creative and skillful at the bench. Michael makes most of the decorative stamps he uses to make his jewelry by hand from the tempered steel of old car engines. Using old parts from piston rods to valve stems, he carefully cuts designs into the steel using tiny files and other tools to produce his personal stamps. Brought up on the reservation in the village of Pruitt, New Mexico and born to the Meadow People Clan, Michael is also part Apache.