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This sterling silver ring has been beautifully crafted by Navajo silversmith Doris Smallcanyon. It is 2 1/4" tall and weighs 16.5 grams or .58 ounce. The ring is a size 7. It is signed with Doris's etched signature and is in excellent condition.
Doris Smallcanyon is most known for her silver Kachina or Yei figures set with turquoise and coral. She was born in 1949 and lives in New Mexico.Her work is in the permanent collection of the Tonoho Chul Museum in Tucson.
Throughout the 40 years that I have been in business, I have purchased jewelry from pawn shops throughout the Southwest that had collections of dead pawn. Most of these pawn shops and trading posts are now closed. The Native American would pawn his jewelry for immediate cash. The shop would hold it and charge interest until he could reclaim it. Dead pawn are the pieces that were never retrieved. Old Pawn Jewelry typically dates from the early 1900s to the 1970s. Most of the early pieces are not signed because it wasn't the Native American tradition to sign the pieces they crafted. Also, the turquoise in old pawn is turquoise that you can't get anymore because many of the mines have closed. And, the red and orange coral is rare because of the coral bleaching which is happening today.
