Perry Shorty Bracelet of Turquoise and Coin Silver

You can't really overstate the significance of Navajo jeweler Perry Shorty. While there are other jewelers working in a revival style, taking us back to the classic Navajo and Pueblo pieces of the late 19th and early 20th Century, few are Perry's equal. 

Perry Shorty is renowned for his coin silver jewelry, like this bracelet. It's an old and laborious technique in which silver coins are actually melted down to be formed into jewelry. 

One time, for a group of collectors, we'd provided Perry with a thick plastic table on which to demonstrate the coin melting process. Big mistake! In the midst of Perry melting the coins, we all began to smell the overpowering stench of toxic plastic. The process required such intense heat that a section of the plastic table had melted. Perry Shorty, still calm and composed, laughed at the room full of 25 collectors gasping, coughing and running outside to breathe fresh air. The incident only emphasized the precision and expertise it takes to work coins into silver jewelry.

This hunk of a coin silver bracelet was made by the same process minus the doomed plastic table. It's at once bold and showy while also appearing simple and refined. Every single piece that Perry makes is one of a kind. With Perry Shorty, you know each tiny stamp, every stone setting, every bit of file work is meticulously crafted by hand. 

This is a piece of Navajo jewelry you'll cherish as long as you live! It goes with everything and feels exceptional on. Let this be THE ONE!

Perry Shorty's coin silver turquoise cuff bracelet measures 5 1/2" inside plus a gap of 1" for a total of 6 1/2". The width is 1 1/4". It's signed on the reverse "Perry Shorty" and "Coin Silver." This one is a rare earlier piece of Perry's and originally collected circa 2000. It has lived with a single owner for almost a quarter of a century! Maybe you'll usher it into the next quarter century.