Description
Quality in design, in workmanship, and in the unusual, natural turquoise, radiates from this uncommonly handsome pendant.
This highly reputed, award-winning jeweler is noted for overlaid geometric designs in silver, as seen here, and fine stones.
Reminiscent of Navajo rug patterns, the silver patterns honor his mother, who was a rug weaver.
This pendant is like an abstract figure, with a round, natural turquoise for the head and a matching oval one, on the body.
The two stones are natural Nevada turquoise, in a soft, mossy green.
Nevada has the highest number of working turquoise mines in the nation, the majority of them “mom and pop” operations.
These lovely stones, with their pale and darker shading, might come from the Concho Springs mine.
The gentle yellow-green hue resembles Royston and Pilot Mountain turquoise, both also from Nevada, but are not from those well-known mines.
The artist just couldn’t remember the name of their origin, which also indicates the small, lesser-known Concho Springs mine.
By any name, the stones are luminous, very appealing, and unusual.
The overlaid silver work, as in all of Peter’s pieces, is flawless, meticulous, intricate, and based on good-luck symbols.
Wavy squiggles ( the official term) on either edge of the pendant represent flowing water; tiny parallel lines, chiseled in the interior and on top, signify rainfall.
The angular spiral, featured in the center, symbolizes storm clouds and wind, presaging rain; triangles with a dot in each also means raindrops and lightning.
At the bottom edge, a stepped design also is a rain symbol.
However, there is an etched texture all over this rectangular element that seem to suggest land, joining land, sky, and water in balance – the ideal situation.
With solid areas and open work, too, the silver is decorative, and looks almost like a fabric weaving.
It contrasts very beautifully with the smooth rotundity of the turquoise. The gentle hue of the stones doesn’t distract from the silver work, and vice versa.
