Old Green Turquoise Jacla Necklace

This vintage necklace is made with two sets of turquoise jaclas (or joclas) which were old-style Navajo and Pueblo earrings that you often see hanging from the bottom of turquoise or coral necklaces.

These four joclas are nicely graduated in size, and they've been restrung with the addition of little silver beads and two cones to form a multi-strand necklace.

What's most striking about this necklace is the deep green shade of the turquoise beads much like what we expect to see with turquoise that comes from the Cerrillos mine. Well, there's ONE turquoise bead that's blue green in color. Can you spot it?

Most of us have multiple pieces of jewelry with blue turquoise, but how many pieces do you you have with sumptuous shades of green? It's an important question because sometimes nothing but green will do with certain outfits.

Another interesting and unique tidbit about this necklace is that the shell "corn" at its base is different in size, number and color. Two of the necklace strands end with 3 pieces of orange corn while two strands end with 5 pieces of pinkish corn. Fun, huh!

This one-of-a-kind Navajo or Pueblo necklace measures 18 1/2" from end to end. The closure is a handmade silver figure eight hook.

From a New York City collection.