Inventory #RCSTm1904

Guarantee:  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. 2.1” total length including 0.7” ear wire & 1.4” slab dangle. Weight: approx. 8g/pair. These are ‘new’ earrings in our inventory since their creation in 2019—not previously sold, not pre-owned & not worn by anyone else.

Detailed Description. These are ‘new’ earrings [not sold previously & not pre-owned or worn by anyone else] since their creation pre-Covid in 2010 by KEWA [Santo Domingo] jewelry artist Ronald Chavez.  Sterling Silver ear wires suspend a 1.4” long oval slab consisting of Spiny Oyster Shell & Turquoise. ‘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, purple, orange, and gold.  The most valued shell colors are those with large amounts of red or orange and gold. 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:  2.1”; with 0.7” long ear wire & 1.4"” long oval slab earring dangle

• Earring slab width is widest near the bottom of the oval: 0.9” wide.

• Weight for the earring pair:  8 grams; with 1 earring slab being only 0.4g heavier than the other.

COMMENTS. These turquoise & ‘Spiny Oyster’ slab earrings were hand-crafted in 2019 pre-Covid by Kewa [Santo Domingo] Native American artist Ronald Chavez. Ronald’s Spiny Oyster/Turquoise slab earrings are very popular. 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. To produce a beautiful earring pair, he also has to select a second piece of slab that comes close to matching the weight, colors, design & pattern of turquoise & shell as the first piece!  This is very challenging due to extensive variation in slab matrix composition & thickness, and natural variation in color and characteristics of semi-precious stones in slabs. The turquoise & spiny oyster matrix is a bold and dramatic mix of blue, white and orange colors, despite the matrix not being perfectly matched between the 2 earrings. There is no significant weight difference between the 2 earrings—1 earring is only 0.4 grams heavier than the other. But if this difference concerns you, do NOT buy the earrings.

His next creative step is hand-shaping the pieces into appealing shapes—with this pair he created an attractively oval shape that is well balanced & matched between the 2 earrings. Next is 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 required—not only 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” 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 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 Kewa ancestors. 

WHY WE WILL NOT SELL MORE ‘SPINY OYSTER’ JEWELRY. Since pre-Covid 2019 when we purchased these earrings, research has demonstrated that ocean populations of Spondylus bivalve mollusks are being depleted along with many other ocean species. The threatened condition of Spondylus is reflected by the fact that in 2022, it is rare to find jewelry with large amounts of red, gold & even orange Spiny Oyster shell! This threatened condition 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—3 terrific leaders of the fight to protect Mother Earth.