Hi Jason,
I am posting these photos for a dear friend of mine, she has had these pieces for many years and has no idea what the value is on today’s market, she is thinking about selling them so I was hoping you could give an estimated value on each one. Is the opal necklace Native American mAde? And are the turquoise stones in the link cuff royston? And she was told the unique looking necklace was 140 years old and was some sort of tribal prayer necklace!! Any info you can pass along will be great!! Thanks!
I find a name that matches the hallmark in Billie Hougart’s hallmark book. He has the hallmark belonging to a Harold Smith. I did a google search “Harold Smith Navajo Jewelry” and found a more contemporary piece attributed to him that sold for $225. The opal in your necklace looks synthetic? I would guess your piece to be $250 - $300. The turquoise cluster bracelet has a good look. If we had that it would retail similar to the necklace. The last piece is not Native American, maybe Tibetan and I am not sure what those sell for. Thank you for sharing.
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Jason, how can you tell if an opal is synthetic or not? I have seen many beautiful opal inlay pieces listed on various sites, and I can’t tell the difference by looking at a photo if the opal is genuine or synthetic. Any advice would be appreciated!
Many Thanks,
Jenna
It can be difficult to tell the difference. Most of the opal that we see is the synthetic opal. It seems like the synthetic has a more uniform repeating pattern of freckles, almost like a glitter. If you have a shop in your town that sells opal I would take this necklace with you and compare.
Did you ever find out if the fire opal is real? I have a piece with very similar white fire opal. It seems that synthetic fire opal holds some value at least. Maybe I’m wrong.