Ed Aguilar Santo Domingo Pueblo 14K Gold and Desert Ironwood Bead Necklace

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An exceptional quality, five-strand 14K gold and Desert Ironwood bead necklace by Ed Aguilar, Santo Domingo Pueblo, New Mexico, c. 1970’s-80’s

Ed Aguilar’s (1941-2006) stunningly beautiful precious metal and exotic wood bead necklaces are quite rare

and quite difficult to come by, and its little wonder since they are so excruciatingly demanding and difficult

to make. Aguilar was born and raised at the Santo Domingo Indian Pueblo some 20 miles south of Santa Fe,

New Mexico. He first began to make jewelry while studying silversmithing at boarding school in Santa Fe.

Like many of his fellow Pueblo young men, Aguilar worked part-time as a hot shot firefighter during the

summers to earn extra money. While still in high school, Aguilar’s father was badly injured and left unable to work so to help support his family, Ed began making jewelry full time following in the footsteps of his jeweler Uncle and his Mother who had previously made hand cut stone and shell bead necklaces. In time, he basically taught himself the painstaking techiniques of cutting, casting, shaping and extruding his metal and wood beads. Over the years, others have tried to imitate him, but have found the work simply too exhausting and difficult.

“I cut my beads with a diamond edge saw.

If they are even 1/100th of an inch off, I won’t use them.”

-Ed Aguilar

"Olneya tesota" Sonoran Desert Ironwood Tree

Photo source and © Spadefoot Nurseries

The necklace measures 12 3/4" in length from the top of the gold chain clasp to the bottom of the beads, measured while lying flat on a table. When completely opened up, the necklace measures 26 1/2" end-to-end which means it is 26 1/2" in circumference all the way around. The necklace weighs a very nice feeling and extremely comfortable to wear 76 grams or 2 5/8 ounces and is in remarkably excellent original condition with no damages and no noticeable wear in evidence. It was clearly not worn very often and has been very well taken care of. The necklace is properly signed “Ed Aguilar” on both of the gold cones in Aguilar’s customary graceful cursive signature.

The necklace lays beautifully and feels just marvelous on the body with its rich, luxurious silky texture and feel. This extraordinary necklace could just as easily and beautifully be worn by either a man or a woman. Impress everyone you know and everyone you don’t with this elegant rare beauty. It’s an immaculate and stunningly precious piece of truly fine jewelry from the inspired mind and skilled hands of a distinguished artist.

SOLD

The act of bead-cutting itself requires immense amounts of patience, perserverance and precision, and the

amount of concentrated effort and sublime artistry that it took to create the elegant simplicity that characterizes the look and feel of this necklace is simply astonishing, so much so that you might not really

believe it unless you knew it to be true. The necklace is five strands in all and each strand is composed of

at least one hundred hand-cut Desert Ironwood beads. Ironwood is one of the world’s hardest, most dense

and most excruciatingly difficult woods to work with. Let’s talk about incredible precision.

Every single one of these five hundred or so beads is only about 1/8" in length. On top of this there are some

75 hand-fashioned, flattened oval-shaped, cast gold beads, each measuring 1/8" by 1/8", in the necklace as well as at least 20 handmade, 3/8" long tubular-shaped14K gold beads, some 95 gold beads in all. The necklace is finished with a 4" long handmade gold link chain and a pair of large, hand-fabricated 14K gold cones which are each 1 1/2" in length. The amount of highly-skilled hand craftsmanship and patience in evidence here simply boggles the mind; the necklace is flawlessly made in every possible respect and is an extraordinary artistic and technical achievement any way you look at it.