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A beautiful Navajo heavy cast
ingot-silver and large Blue Diamond, Nevada turquoise ring by Harrison Jim, c. 2017
Is there such a thing as Irish Navajo jewelry? Well, perhaps there is now because of Harrison Jim (b.1970)
who is an extremely talented Navajo silversmith who happens be of half Navajo and half Irish ancestry. And it’s
pretty easy to see which half created this gorgeous silver and turquoise ring.
Jim was born and raised around Gallup, a tough railroad town on the border of the Navajo and Zuni Indian Reservations in far Western New Mexico. Gallup is one of the major Indian trading centers in the Southwest and Jim began working for one of the jewelry making concerns there as a “buffer” someone who polished the silver pieces. He worked his way up and apprenticed at various times for accomplished Navajo silversmiths in the area, Tommy Jackson and the great McKee Platero and began making more and more of his own pieces. Over the years, he has become quite accomplished and his excellent, large scale and intense work like this ring shows some distinct influence of McKee Platero in particular.
"I make jewlery for a living, I am passionate about it and do it the old way."
-Harrison Jim
This ring is built on a large scale and built to last, it is as solid and nearly as heavy as a rock. The ring's cast silver shank is a quite large, 3/16" thick bar of solid cast nicely textured ingot silver. Atop the shank is a beautifully-crafted and highly polished deep silver bezel containing the hold your breath beautiful big high-grade big Blue Diamond, Nevada turquoise stone. High-Grade Blue Diamond is one of the most beautiful and highly sought after turquoise stars in the entire turquoise galaxy and this big stone is a true beauty queen. We would estimate the stone’s weight at somewhere around 40-50 carats. The last time we purchased high grade Blue Diamond stones of this quality, from one of the Southwest’s most knowledgable turquoise dealers was around fifteen years ago and the stones cost $20 per carat then, so the math is fairly easy to do here and fairly persuasive.
We are the only owners this ring has ever had. We purchased it new from one of Gallup’s leading Indian trading posts shortly after Harrison brought it in to them when he had finished making it in 2017 and it has never left our sight. Maybe we wore it once or twice, mostly we just admired it for its powerful and very serious beauty and quality craftsmanship.
The ring measures a size 10 1/4 to 10 1/2 on a professional graduated ring sizer. The ring’s face measures 1 1/2" in height and 1" in width. The ring weighs a hefty and substantial 56 grams or 2 ounces. The ring is in completely excellent original condition with no condition problems at all. It is properly signed “HJ” on the back in Harrison Jim’s co-joined initials. All in all, this is a seriously impressive, no-nonsense piece of precious Navajo jewelry, a gorgeous eyeful any way you look at it. As they like to say over there in Dublin and out here in Window Rock....Begosh, Begorrah and Ya-ta-Hay!
SOLD
Navajo/Irish silversmith Harrison Jim, c. 2020
Photo source and © Bischoff's Gallery
Blue Diamond Turquoise
The Blue Diamond mine, located in central Nevada, opened in the late 1950’s and was mined up to 1980. This mine is considered a “hat mine” of which there are very few. A hat mine is a small deposit of turquoise that, “you can cover with your hat.” The stones that the mine produces, which are usually large pieces of plate form, looks a great deal like Stormy Mountain turquoise because of its black smoky matrix. This stone features dark smoky matrix surrounded by a brilliant blue, The characteristic black chert is ever-present. This mine is now closed and buried under thousands of tons of rock.
-Turquoise text and photo source and © Waddell Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ
