Sonoran Blue Turquoise pendant

Navajo husband and wife team Michael & Rosita Calladito crafted this beautiful pendant. Set in solid sterling silver with genuine Sonoran Gold turquoise. This pendant measures 2" 1/2 in total length with a stone that measuring 1" x 5/8". The heavy stamping is the setting frames the stone perfectly. This is a very traditional styled pendant that can be worn for any occasion. Navajo handcrafted pendant by artist M & R Calladito

 Sonoran Gold Canyon Turquoise is an interesting turquoise from Senora, Mexico, near Nogales, Arizona, and its neighbor: Nogales, Mexico, which is the northernmost point in all of Mexico. The series of mines bearing this name are on several sites contingent to the American border. Very little hard natural material has been mined here. Most has needed stabilizing to be useful. The high-grade natural material is a medium blue, with darker blue matrix, forming a "birds’ eye" pattern. This is usually accompanied by iron pyrite, giving it a similar look to a high-grade Morenci. The high-grade turquoise from this mine is rare and is considered both esoteric and valuable.

ARTISTS: Michael & Rosita (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. Raised primarily by his Grandparents, Michael draws inspiration from the same remote and wild places his grandmother, a well-respected natural healer, took him to when he was young.