Silver and Turquois from NM, AZ?

[Parks 788]

Lots of folks on here with varied life experiences, hobbies, knowledge and backgrounds so I thought I ask here if anyone has a direction to recommend.

Background on why I'm asking: Wife and her sister are well into the planning stages of opening a vintage/home goods store. Today they are in day three of their first vintage market show at the Creek county Fairgrounds. Part of their offerings they want is quality silver and turquois jewelry. My wife has some very nice high dollar pieces she wears herself and won't sell but she bought those retail. She has spoken with several other retail sellers of Silver/Turquois and they give very generic answers as to where/how they buy but will never get more specific, which is understandable.

Most seem to travel to NM and AZ with tons of cash and purchase directly from the Natives that fabricate the pieces and purchased at wholesale prices. Does anyone on here have experience in purchasing or have knowledge of a good direction on where to start the search to build a relatoinship and trust with these jewelers?

 

[JEVapa]

I'm from Eastern AZ right next to the Navajo Rez. We grew up with reputable places to get jewelry but those have kinda dwindled. I'll break it down to a few categories:

1. Small town shops/who you know - best prices. You'll have to vacation and make friends
2. Trading Posts on the I-40 corridor: basically west of ABQ to Flagstaff - best retail (have to shop around); Add that there are a couple east of ABQ in that desolate space between Tucumcari and Santa Rosa.
3. Any large city outside of the above corridor in AZ/NM - expect a 2x price increase...worse in places like Scottsdale or Santa Fe that cater to the rich and fancy.
4. Outside of AZ/NM expect a 2x-3x price increase, period. Any boutique, specialty shop, trade show, expect even higher. Show's will have fakes.

Best thing is to road trip and hit trading posts west of ABQ to Flagstaff. Hit some of the small towns on I-40...most of them were Route 66 towns and are now kinda defunct. Holbrook still has some good places and so does Gallup. But you gotta look around.

I won't buy any Navajo, Hopi, Laguna, Zuni, etc anything outside of AZ/NM. You're just getting ripped off every time.

Also, exit 114 westbound in NM is one of the best places to get frybread/Indian tacos, it's a little rock hut just west of the burger joint. They have good stuff there, it's on the Laguna Pueblo.

That said, a good start is in the bold above. You can also look up places on the rez (s) and go chat with people and chat with the trading post folks. They hear it all the time and are probably a middleman as well.

 

[Chief Sapulpa]

I’d check with the Chambers of Commerce in both Santa Fe and Scottsdale.
FWIW, I think this style of jewelry is a very niche market item.

 

[GC7]

Might as well make it a road trip to Las Vegas then.

 

[kingfish]

Just do all your jewelry buying on the way to Vegas, not after you've been there.

 

[SPDguns]

Just do all your jewelry buying on the way to Vegas, not after you've been there.

Las Vegas NM, not Las Vegas NV....

 

[mr ed]

Used to be several places in Albuquerque. Palms trading used to be a big supplier. (Take a copy of tax permit to deal) They seem to still be in biz. In yesteryear they were the wholesale supplier to the natives to make the jewelry.
Used to buy off the ladies with the blankets spread on the sidewalks in old town. Used to go to the reservations. Of course this was 40-50 years ago
They had a huge flea market at the fair grounds but it was a tourist trap.

 

[KurtM]

I'd invest a little time with a mineralogist, or gemologists to make sure you can tell the difference between real and fake Turquoise! It is fairly easy to fake, and it looks really good, but on the other hand once you know what to look for, it is pretty easy to tell it is or isn't fake.

 

[jakeman]

I'd invest a little time with a mineralogist, or gemologists to make sure you can tell the difference between real and fake Turquoise! It is fairly easy to fake, and it looks really good, but on the other hand once you know what to look for, it is pretty easy to tell it is or isn't fake.

One of my ex-wives is from NM. She had some really nice Turquoise jewelry, and she told me never to buy her any without her looking at it first because probably 4/5’s of every thing out there now was fake. She could tell the diff. I never could.

 

[TerryMiller]

Used to be several places in Albuquerque. Palms trading used to be a big supplier. (Take a copy of tax permit to deal) They seem to still be in biz. In yesteryear they were the wholesale supplier to the natives to make the jewelry.
Used to buy off the ladies with the blankets spread on the sidewalks in old town. Used to go to the reservations. Of course this was 40-50 years ago
They had a huge flea market at the fair grounds but it was a tourist trap.

When we were living/working in Utah back some years ago, one could find Navajo ladies out selling jewelry in various places along Highway 89 south from Page, AZ. Some are at roadside with maybe an umbrella setup with blankets on the ground or in sales huts along the road. Someone had built a nice pole-type barn thingie at Marble Canyon and the Navajo Bridges where a number of the Navajo would be selling stuff.

Living in an RV, there isn't much space for storing things, so we never got into buying the jewelry. Thus, I couldn't tell if the stuff was genuine or not.