Tear droped shaped pendant, Adobe Pueblo design

Adobe Pueblo design pendant by new Navajo artist Shirley Henry. Set in solid sterling silver with genuine picture jasper, jet and coral. Cultured opal is also used for some of the elements in the design. Measuring 1 1/4" x 3/8". The bail is approximately 1/4" long and can accommodate a 6mm chain or Navajo pearls. ADOBE PUEBLO PENDANT The Pueblo design you see in your piece is a reflection of the of the Navajo people’s lifestyle. The scenery is set in New Mexico, near "Shiprock" mountain. This mountain range is a sacred area for the Navajo. The black represents Father sky (everything known) while the pueblos are mother earth (everything known) Sterling silver (stars and ring shank) Is an alloy of silver containing 92.5% by weight of silver and 7.5% by weight of other metals, usually copper. The sterling silver standard has a minimum millesimal fineness of 925. SILVER, for example 99.9% pure silver, is relatively soft, so silver is usually alloyed with copper to increase its hardness and strength. Sterling silver is prone to tarnishing, and elements other than copper can be used in alloys to reduce tarnishing, as well as casting porosity and fire scale. Such elements include germanium, zinc, platinum, silicon, and boron. ___________________________________________________________________________________ Cultured opals (white colored elements), often referred to as opalite, are created in laboratories. Pure opals that occur in nature take many years to develop. Mines of natural opals are found across the globe. In the Southwest United States, there are naturally occurring opal fields that are mined. ______________________________________________________________________ Jet (black elements) is a product of high-pressure decomposition of wood from millions of years ago, commonly the wood of trees. Jet is found in two forms, hard and soft. Hard jet is the result of carbon compression and salt water; soft jet is the result of carbon compression and fresh water. Native American Navajo and Pueblo tribes of New Mexico were using regionally mined jet for jewelry and the ornamentation of weapons when early Spanish explorers reached the area in the 1500’s.Today these jet deposits are known as Acoma jet, for the Acoma Pueblo. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Picture Jasper (brown elements) is an opaque, microcrystalline variety of Quartz with extraordinary color banding, veining and depositional flow patterns created by petrified or silicate mud and sometimes dendritic inclusions.