Verma Sonwai Nequatewa Hopi 14K Gold Inlaid Height Ring 1991

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A superb and very early "Sonwai" Hopi 14K gold "Height" style ring with various precious stone and gold inlays by Verma Nequatewa, 1991

Here is an especially beautiful and quite early ring done by the renowned Hopi jewelry master artist, Verma “Sonwai” Nequatewa (b.1949). Verma, of course, is Charles Loloma’s niece and longtime former apprentice, she worked side by side with Charles in the Loloma Studio from around 1968 until his incapacitating accident in 1986 and untimely death in 1991. Verma had spent the previous year or two finishing up the Loloma Studio’s back orders before going completely out on her own as "Sonwai" around 1991. Fittingly, "Sonwai" is the female form of the English word “beauty” in the Hopi language as "Loloma" is the male form of the same word. Verma and her husband and partner, Robert Rhodes, just recently told us that according to their records, Verma made this ring in 1991 which makes it one of the earliest “Sonwai” pieces ever made.

The ring’s design is the daring “Height” style originally created by Charles Loloma for rings and bracelets and continuously refined over the years by Verma Nequatewa into even more elegant and daring configurations such

as this tall and quite narrow version, the thinness serving to heighten and accentuate even more the impression of tallness. In this particular instance, the ring’s shank is fabricated in 14K gold which was inlaid with six large pieces of stone, wood and metal; 2 pieces of brownish-cream colored fossilized mastodon ivory, one piece of black ebony wood, one piece of purple sugilite, one piece of Mediterranean red coral and two large gold spacer bars. There are also smaller inlays of one piece of blue turquoise, one piece of purple sugilite, three pieces of red coral and three additional small gold spacer bars.

At left, Verma Nequatewa greeting guests at the opening of The Heard Museum’s Sonwai retrospective exhibition in Phoenix, Arizona in October, 2018.

“Charles taught that beauty is all around us on Hopi;

in the environment, in the culture, in ceremony.”

-Verma Nequatewa

The ring measures a size 6 3/4-7 on a professional graduated ring sizer. The ring is 1 3/8" in height from top to bottom and is 1" in width at the widest point across measured while lying flat on a table. The ring is a very

narrow 1/4" in depth and it rises 5/8" in height above the top of the finger. The ring weighs an extremely comfortable and very wearable 10 grams or 3/8 ounce. It is in very good original condition overall with some amount of age-appropriate wear having been lovingly worn over its 34 years of age. There are no cracked or chipped stones, but there are a few very tiny nicks and some scratching on the very bottom and sides of the gold shank. Some of this could probably be buffed out by a professional jeweler, if desired. The ring is properly signed "Sonwai" in Verma Nequatewa’s characteristic signature and is also marked with her butterfly insignia and "14K".

This ring is a lovely and striking original Loloma/early Sonwai design created by Verma Nequatewa

executed with an extraordinary level of precise hand craftsmanship and soul to create a stunningly precious

piece of superb jewelry sculpture. Turn every head in every room you walk into wearing this beautiful ring,

it's like an exquisitely graceful miniature precious skyscraper.

Price $5,200

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Above left, Verma "Sonwai" Nequatewa and Charles Loloma, c. 1980's. Above right, an example of one of Verma "Sonwai" Nequatewa's "Height" style bracelets.