Vintage Sand Cast Naja Pendant of Silver and Turquoise

Here's a really nice vintage Navajo pendant of a sand cast silver naja set with a single turquoise stone. The silver naja is done in the shape of corn plants, one of the most important symbols for Navajo life. It's beautifully handmade - a nice thick heavy pour of silver that's even carinated at the top edges. 

To create this lovely pendant, the Navajo maker used a traditional process where they took sandstone, shaped it into a block with a slice through the middle of the block and then hand carved this gracefully curving shape in the sandstone block or mold. Next, they melted silver and poured it into the sand stone "mold". Once the silver hardened in the shape of this corn plant naja, they removed it from the mold, filed away any excess silver from the edges, polished it up and set it with the turquoise stone. You can read more about the process here.

Naja pendants like this one are great because you can wear them in a variety of ways. A single naja pendant can give you a bit of that squash blossom look, but it's easier to wear than the big commitment that is a squash blossom necklace. Pair it with some simple silver blossom earrings, and you're looking fab!

This naja pendant is backed with a shepherd's hook rather than a bale, so you can easily attach it to a necklace of silver beads, coral tubes, or turquoise tabs. In fact, if you have a nice multi-strand turquoise or coral necklace, you can hang this pendant from it for one look and then attach a pair of joclas for yet another look. Of course, you can even hang this pendant from a leather strap for a more simple but still eye-catching style. What's the first way you'd wear this if it belonged to you?

Even though this piece is vintage, its last owner kept it polished to a high sheen because that's what she preferred. It was last sold by Martha Struever and then made its way back to Turquoise & Tufa.

The Navajo pendant measures 2 1/2" long x 2" wide. It's unsigned.

If you wind up purchasing this lovely piece, drop me and email, and I'll send it to you with a complimentary leather strap if you'd like.