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Mark Chee at his bench, Santa Fe, c. 1940’s.
Photo © Frasher’s Foto Postcards, Pasadena, CA
“Morenci turquoise is highly sought after for its blue colors and iron pyrite, or “fools gold,” matrix.”
-Gene Waddell, American turquoise authority
Like much American turquoise, Morenci is a beautiful by-product of large-scale copper mining and the Morenci Copper mine outside Safford, Arizona is one of the largest in the United States. Morenci turquoise is universally considered to be one of the world’s great classic turquoises and Mark Chee made wonderful use of a prime piece of it here, highlighting the large trapezoidally-shaped stone with its characteristic iron pyrite inclusions which catch the light beautifully and its penetrating blue color with a lovely old-style "foldover" type silver bezel and accentuating the silver bezel with a perfectly-crafted hand wrought twisted silver wire bezel surround mounted on a perfectly-crafted triple-split silver shank.
The simplicity of the ring’s appearance belies the complexity of its construction. The great ones always make it look easy! The ring face measures a size 7 1/4 on a professional graduated ring sizer. The ring face is 1 1/8" in height and it is 1" in width at its widest point. The ring weighs a comfortable and easily wearable 18 grams or 5/8 ounce and is in excellent original vintage condition with a small amount of age-appropriate wear. It is properly and handsomely signed on the inside with Mark Chee’s customary last name inside a bird’s head hallmark.
This superb ring is a classic historic piece by a classic historic artist,
one of the greatest Navajo silversmiths of his or any other time.
SOLD
"The best of the genuine."
-Julius Gans
At left, San Francisco Street in downtown Santa Fe. The Southwest Arts and Crafts building sign can be seen at top center.
At right, some of Southwest Arts and Crafts Native silversmiths in front of the store, 1935. Mark Chee is pictured at second from left.
Left photo source and © T. Harmon Parkhurst, The Santa Fe New Mexican, c. 1925. Right photo source and © Frashers Fotos. Above center, Southwest Arts and Crafts sales catalog, c. 1934.
Center photo source and © "The Native American Curio Trade in New Mexico", by Jonathan Batkin, Wheelwright Museum, 2008, pp. 155.
A superbly made vintage Navajo silver and Morenci, Arizona turquoise ring by Mark Chee, c.1950’s-60’s
It doesn’t get much better in the arena of vintage historic Navajo jewelry than the great Mark Chee (1904-1981) and we’ll bet dollars to donuts, that his contemporaries and competitors from Fred Peshlakai to Kenneth Begay to McKee Platero to Perry Shorty, would all agree.
This ring is truly spectacular piece by this all-time great superstar. Born in the tiny, remote one-horse hamlet
of Lukachukai, Arizona out in the far reaches of the vast Navajo reservation Mark Chee came to Santa Fe around 1920 as a young teenager to work as a jewelry apprentice at Julius Gans’ Southwest Arts and Crafts on the downtown Santa Fe plaza polishing stones for $5.00 a week (see photos below). Due to his exceptional talent
and direct instruction by some of the finest Navajo and Pueblo silversmiths of their day, people such as Ambrose Roanhorse, Sam Roanhorse and Joe Quintana, Chee rose rapidly becoming an ace silversmith whose pieces were always in high demand. Chee always worked in a completely traditional manner using a simple set of tools he mostly made himself and always insisting on using only the finest stones as he did here with this terrific silver and Morenci, Arizona turquoise ring.