Vintage Dangle Earrings of Turquoise By Helen Chantler

About the Piece: These lovely vintage turquoise dangle earrings were handmade by Helen Chantler for the James Reid jewelry studio here in Santa Fe. 

The earrings have a sculptural design where the lower cluster gently articulates beneath the top stone.

Importantly, they're not Native American made, but they illustrate the rich cross-cultural influences that have long shaped jewelry here in Santa Fe where Native American silversmithing has inspired generations of artists. 

In fact, James Reid worked as a silversmith and trader in Taos and Santa Fe in the early 1970s. By the time he opened his company in the late 1970s, he'd been greatly influenced by the techniques and forms of Navajo silverwork. In the late 1980s through the early 1990s, Santa Fe jeweler Helen Chantler worked for James Reid, and created these beautiful earrings during her time there.

If you take some time to familiarize yourself with the jewelry that came out of James Reid's studio, you'll see that these earrings are some of the best!

They were acquired by one of my clients, a high-end collector of contemporary Native American jewelry who occasionally branched out into adjacent jewelry traditions. They've been worn to the Santa Fe Opera, and now they're waiting for their next adventures.

The earrings measure 1 7/8" x 1 1/2". They're posts for pierced ears with omega clip closures. They're etched on the back "JR LTD" ".925" and "Helen".

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