Inv# JERCSTm1901

Guarantee:  New Spiny Oyster Shell & Turquoise Slab earrings with Sterling Silver ear wires; hand-made in 2019 pre-Covid by KEWA Native American jewelry artist Ronald Chavez; approx. 2.6” total length & 12.6 grams weight.

Detailed Description:  New earrings with Sterling Silver ear wires suspend a 1.9” long, long oval shaped slab consisting of Spiny Oyster Shell & Turquoise; made in 2019 pre-Covid by KEWA [Santo Domingo] Native American jewelry artist Ronald Chavez.  ‘Spiny Oyster’ is a common name used for this beautiful shell, but it’s a misleading name because it is not shell from an oyster.  Rather, this is the shell of a non-oyster family of ocean bivalve mollusks, whose scientific name is Spondylus.  Depending on the Spondylus species, a ‘Spiny Oyster’ shell can be multi-colored with shades of white, red, orange, purple, and gold.  The most valued shell colors are those with large amounts of red or orange and gold.  As in this Ronald Chavez earring pair, the red/white/orange/gold Spiny Oyster shell makes a beautiful earring when combined with blue turquoise in a slab form. WE WILL NO LONGER OFFER ‘SPINY OYSTER’ SHELL JEWELRY AFTER SALE OF OUR EXISTING FEW ITEMS. WHY? See “Comments” below.

Materials:  Spiny Oyster shell and 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 0.7” long ear wire & 1.9” long slab drop

• Earring slab widest width:  0.7”

• Weight for the earring pair:  12.6 grams.

COMMENTS. We are delighted to offer these beautiful turquoise & ‘Spiny Oyster’ slab earrings hand-crafted in 2019 pre-Covid by Kewa [Santo Domingo] Native American artist Ronald Chavez. Each of Ronald’s earrings reflects 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 & Spiny Oyster shell. With this earring pair, Ronald has created beautiful earring art by his choice of the matrix of Spiny Oyster shell combined with deep blue turquoise. To produce a beautiful earring pair, he has to select a second piece of slab that will closely match the same colors, design & pattern of turquoise & shell as the first piece—nicely done with this pair of earrings!  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.  So we are awed when we think about the artistic vision, the time it takes and difficulty of hand-selecting, hand-cutting, hand-shaping, & hand-drilling the slab pieces to produce hand-crafted earrings like these!

Color Differences in photos. You may observe color differences in the photos we posted of the slab earrings because the color of turquoise and ‘Spiny Oyster’ looks different in different lighting. We purposely take the photos with varying types of light so that you can see the different look of the earrings in differing light conditions.

The jewelry market is now flooded with inexpensive fake “American Indian” silver jewelry that in fact originates in foreign countries where it is either hand-made in ‘sweat shops’ or mass-produced by machines in factories. 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. Many Native American artists rely on sale of their unique art to support themselves and their families.  So by purchasing a Veronica Tortalita ‘original’, you are supporting not only an especially skilled Native American artist, but also helping to preserve the threatened hand-crafted art knowledge, vision and skills handed down by previous generations of her Kewa ancestors. 

WHY WE WILL NOT SELL MORE ‘SPINY OYSTER’ JEWELRY. Since pre-Covid 2019 when we purchased these stunning Veronica Tortalita earrings, research has demonstrated that ocean populations of Spondylus bivalve mollusks are being depleted along with many other ocean species. This is caused by 2 factors: adverse ocean ecological changes caused by fossil fuel-driven climate change, along with world-wide demand for beautiful ocean shells. Ocean corals became endangered more than a decade ago. That is why we have NEVER offered any coral jewelry.

WE DO NOT WANT TO BE A FACTOR IN HELPING MAKE SPONDYLUS AN ENDANGERED SPECIES, so after our current few ‘spiny oyster’ necklaces and earrings are sold, we will no longer purchase or offer jewelry with ‘spiny oyster’ or any other threatened species. PLEASE JOIN US IN HELPING END CLIMATE CHANGE CAUSED BY FOSSIL FUEL-DOMINATED ECONOMIES: (1) become politically active in demanding fast climate action by elected officials; (2) join & support nonprofit citizen groups leading the fight to save Mother Earth & our children’s future: 350.org, BiologicalDiversity.org, & FrackTracker.org—3terrific leaders of the fight to protect Mother Earth.