Inv# RCTm1902

Guarantee:  Turquoise Slab earrings with Sterling Silver ear wires; by KEWA [Santo Domingo] Native American jewelry artist Ronald Chavez ; approx. 2.6” total length. Weight 9 grams. These are ‘new’ earrings were created by Ronald in 2019 and have been in our inventory since then—never before sold, returned, or worn by anyone.

Detailed Description:  Earrings with Sterling Silver ear wires suspending a 1.9” long, unique tear-drop shaped turquoise slab; made by KEWA [Santo Domingo] Native American jewelry artisan Ronald Chavez.  Total length 2.6” and total weight 9 grams. Color differences in photos: you may observe color differences in the posted photos. Turquoise slab color looks different in different light conditions. We purposely take photos in varying light so you can see how that affects turquoise color, which sometimes look more green and other times look more blue.

Materials:  Turquoise slab; Sterling Silver ear wires

Detailed Dimensions.  [Dimensions are approximate; measurements made with a micrometer]

• Earring Total length including ear wires:  2.6”; with 0.5” long ear wire & 1.9” length slab

• Earring slab widest width:  0.7”

• Weight:  9 grams

Comments.  We are pleased to offer these beautiful turquoise slab earrings hand-crafted by Kewa [Santo Domingo] Native American artist Ronald Chavez.  Each of Ronald’s earrings is a reflection of his artistic vision and skill.

He begins by envisioning the design, shape, size and beauty he wants to create out of specific small pieces of a slab of turquoise.  To produce a beautiful earring pair, he also has to select a second piece of slab that will closely match the same colors, design & pattern of turquoise as the first piece—his matching turquoise on this pair is excellent and beautiful!  Next is hand-shaping the pieces into appealing shapes; followed by polishing the surfaces & carefully drilling holes for the sterling silver wire.  Unskilled or hurried work can crack, scratch, or demolish turquoise and other semi-precious stones & ‘slabs’ because they are relatively soft materials.  Ronald did a superb job with this pair of hand-crafted earrings: the 2 earrings’ turquoise slab matrix and color is perfectly matched & there are NO size or weight variations between the 2 earrings. So we are awed when we think about the artistic vision, time involved, and difficulty of hand-selecting, hand-shaping, & hand-drilling the slab pieces required to produce beautifully matching hand-crafted earrings like these!

The jewelry market is now flooded with inexpensive fake “American Indian” jewelry that in fact originates in foreign countries and is either hand-made in ‘sweat shops’ or is mass-produced by machines in factories.  Many Native American artists rely on sale of their unique art to support themselves and their families.  So by purchasing Ronald’s earrings, you are supporting not only a skilled Native American artist, but also helping to preserve the threatened hand-crafted art knowledge, vision and skills handed down by previous generations of his Kewa Pueblo ancestors.  Native Americans are not only the first occupants of America—they also are the first American artists as reflected in prehistoric dwellings, petroglyphs, pictographs, paintings, basketry, pottery, foot wear, and clothing.