Vintage Necklace of Natural Turquoise Beads by Joe and Terry Reano

There are turquoise necklaces and then there are TURQUOISE NECKLACES. While this natural turquoise necklace is just a single strand and smaller in scale, it's very special. It's a vintage piece by Joe B. and Terry C. Reano of Kewa or Santo Domingo Pueblo.

Joe and Terry Reano made the little natural turquoise beads in this necklace entirely by hand in the painstaking traditional, old-style process without using power tools. 

The first step in this process is to take small pieces of turquoise stone and rub them against a rough block of sandstone in order to level them. Then, holes are drilled in each piece using a pump drill which is made out of wood and string and moved up and down by hand. Pump drill bits are often nails, and before the Spanish contact, they were made out of sharp rock crystals. Once holes are pump drilled into every single little bead, they're strung. Then, the roughly shaped strand of beads is rolled against a large textured stone in order to create a graduated or uniform bead shape. During this extensive process, much of the original turquoise material is ground down to dust. This is traditional artisanal jewelry at its finest - it can take months even for a single strand. 

That's precisely why Joe and Terry Reano's beads have a different feel to them. Wear these beads, and you'll know what it felt like to wear early Indigenous Pre-contact beaded necklaces. There's something sacred here that reminds us to slow down and just breathe.

If you're interested in loud statement-making jewelry this necklace isn't for you. It's quiet, refined and something you wear more for yourself than for the admiration of others. It's truly an heirloom piece of jewelry.

The natural turquoise necklace is slightly graduated in size. It measures 20.5" from end to end and it's hallmarked on the little handmade silver cones. 

The necklace was collected on one of Martha Struever's beloved field trips when participants visited Joe and Terry Reano to see their bead-making process first hand.

• Natural turquoise necklace by Joe and Terry Reano
• Joe and Terry Reano are premiere bead makers at Santo Domingo or Kewa Pueblo
• They work by hand in the old style of bead making
• Necklace measures 20.5" from end to end
• Hallmarked on the silver cones.
• Vintage piece collected on a Native art field trip led by Martha Struever