This beautiful necklace was hand made by Navajo artist Karen Walker who lives in Cameron Arizona. Ms. Walker specializes in beaded pouches and necklaces. This particular medallion necklace starts with a natural buckskin backing and the intricate, time consuming bead stitching on the the leather medallion and stringing of jasper and beads. The oval shaped medallion measures 3” by 2.75”. The center stone itself is 1.5 times the size of a quarter. The bottom strands are 2”in length. The are a total of 8 strands on the top, 4 on each side that taper off with a silver cone and clasp at the end of each. The top strands are 14” in length. Total length of the necklace is 19”.

Originally, Native American beads were carved from natural materials like shells, coral, turquoise and other stones, copper and silver, wood, amber, ivory, and animal bones, horns, and teeth. Glass beads were not used until the colonists brought them from Europe 500 years ago, but like horses, they quickly became part of American Indian culture. Today glass beads, particularly fine seed beads, are the primary materials for traditional beaders of many tribes. There are as many different Native American beading traditions, designs, styles and stitches as there are tribes and nations. Plains Indian beadwork is best known, with its intricate peyote stitch beading and bone hairpipe chokers, but there are many kinds of beadwork traditions throughout North America, from the wampum belts of the eastern Indians to the dentalium strands of the west coast Indians, from the floral beadwork of the northern Indians to the shell and turquoise heishi beads of the southwest Indians, and everything in between. Beads were a common trade item since ancient times, so it wasn't surprising to see abalone shells from the west coast in Cherokee beadwork or quahog wampum from the east coast in Chippewa beadwork, even before the Europeans arrived and forced disparate tribes into closer contact with each other.

As a great generalization, native beadwork can be grouped into beaded leather (usually clothing, moccasins, or containers) and beaded strands (usually used for jewelry, but sometimes also as ornamental covering to wrap around a gourd or other ceremonial or art object) For beaded leather arts, Indian craftspeople sew the beads onto a leather backing (or cloth, today). Each bead may be sewn on individually, or they may be attached in loops or rows of beads (as in the classic Plains Indian "lazy stitch" style.) To make beaded strands, a craftsperson stitches the beads together into strings or a mesh using sinew, thread or wire. Normally this is done by hand, but some tribes used bow looms to make belts or rectangular strips of beadwork. Beading strands and beading onto leather are both very complicated, time-consuming and delicate tasks which require many years of practice to do well.

Please remember you are buying a fine quality Native American piece of history for your collection. It is being shipped to you so I highly recommend that you secure your investments by making sure you sign for your item so it is not left in the mailbox while you are not at home. I also highly recommend that you option for insurance. It is not very expensive and shippers are much more cautious in delivery when an item is insured. We insist on delivery confirmation so we know that it has arrived but you should make sure it reaches you personally thru insurance and signing for it!

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All of our items are Authentic Native American works of art unless we specify otherwise. All of the jewelry contains genuine silver and gold and contains no pot metal, nickel, rhodium, pewter or other precious metal substitutes.