Inv# VTSTM1902

Guarantee:  Spiny Oyster Shell & Turquoise Slab earrings with Sterling Silver ear wires; hand-crafted in 2019 pre-Covid by KEWA [Santo Domingo] Native American jewelry artist Veronica Tortalito ; approx. 2.4” total length & 7.5 grams weight..

Materials:  Spiny Oyster shell and Turquoise slab; Sterling Silver ear wires. WE WILL NO LONGER OFFER ‘SPINY OYSTER’ SHELL JEWELRY AFTER SALE OF OUR EXISTING FEW ITEMS. WHY? See “Comments” below.

Detailed Description. Sterling Silver ear wires suspend a 1.9” long, unique trapezoidal-shaped slab consisting of Spiny Oyster Shell & Turquoise; hand-made in 2019 pre-Covid by KEWA [Santo Domingo] Native American jewelry artist Veronica Tortalito.  These earrings are especially beautiful due to the combination & pattern of the blue turquoise with orange and gold “Spiny Oyster” shell—the gold “Spiny Oyster” shell sparkles with reflected light as you move. ‘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 Veronica Tortalito earring pair, the white/orange/gold Spiny Oyster shell makes a stunningly beautiful earring when combined with turquoise in a slab form.

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

• Earring Total length including ear wires:  2.4”; with 0.5” long ear wire & 1.9” long slab drop

• Earring slab widest width:  0.5”

• Weight:  7.5 grams total weight. NOTE: there is a miniscule 0.1 gram weight difference between individual earrings: [3.7g & 3.8 grams] due to one earring being slightly thicker. If you think that slight weight or thickness difference will detract from your enjoyment of the earrings, PLEASE DO NOT BUY THEM. To protect your health, we do NOT permit returns or exchanges. See our detailed explanation in our policy of NO RETURNS.

Comments.  We are delighted to offer these stunningly beautiful turquoise & ‘spiny oyster’ slab earrings hand-crafted in 2019 pre-Covid by Kewa [Santo Domingo] Native American jewelry artist Veronica Tortalito.  Each of Veronica’s earrings is a unique reflection of her superb artistic vision and skill.  She is known for the unique shapes and beauty of her slab ‘Spiny Oyster’ and turquoise earrings.

She begins by envisioning the design, shape, size and beauty she wants to create out of specific small pieces of a slab of turquoise & Spiny Oyster shell. With this earring pair, Veronica has created exceptionally beautiful earring art by her choice of the superb matrix of white, orange & gold Spiny Oyster shell combined with blue turquoise. To produce an especially beautiful earring pair, she also has to select a second piece of slab that will closely match the same 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 the color and characteristics of semi-precious stones & shell. Next she hand-shapes the pieces into appealing shapes; then polishes the surfaces & carefully drills 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 involved and difficulty of hand-selecting, hand-cutting, hand-shaping, & hand-drilling the slab pieces—to produce stunning, one-of-a-kind, hand-crafted earrings like these!

Hand-crafting jewelry using natural semi-precious stones inherently can result in some relatively minor variations in jewelry. This can happen even with highly skilled artisans like Veronica Tortalito, and that is the case with this pair of exceptionally beautiful earrings. As noted above, there is a very slight 0.1 gram weight difference between the 2 earrings due to one being slightly thicker than the other. We recognize that for some people that very slight weight difference—or thickness difference—may be noticeable when wearing the earrings and detract from their enjoyment. We point this out upfront because we want you to be thoroughly delighted with your purchases from us. Please do NOT purchase these earrings if you think that slight weight or thickness difference between each earring will be noticeable by you and detract from your enjoyment of them.

Color Differences in photos. You may observe differing shades of color in the photos we posted of the slab earrings. That is because the color of turquoise and ‘Spiny Oyster’ can look different in different lighting conditions and intensity. 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 a Veronica Tortalito ‘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 new, stunning Veronica Tortalito 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 new 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 save Mother Earth.