This fits into the category of a once in a lifetime find.

A friend of mine and his wife lived on a navahoe reservation for 5 years while she was teaching at the mission school, he spent his days driving around buying rugs and rock and getting to know people.

I was buying rugs from him when he asked me if I would be interested in a medicine man's necklace.  Intrigued, I of course said I would like to see it. we settled on a deal for the piece and I found out what I could from him about is origin.

It was purchased from the granddaughter of the Shaman. The granddaughter, at that time, was about 45 or 50 years old and I came to find out later that the Shaman's wife, who was still living,  found out about the sale shortly after the deal was concluded and become upset at the idea of the medicine necklace being sold. 

My friend, not wanting to be out of place, offered to return it for the price paid, but she would not take it back.

After it came to me, I examined it very carefully. Originally, necklaces of this kind were strung on horse hair fiber.  Horsehair decays with time and the piece was restrung about 15 years ago, before the Shaman's death, on steel wire with a nylon coat.  A very durable material.

Usually this thin wire is clamped at the ends when used. In this case the wire was actually knotted, which is an amazing feat considering the material.

The beads on this piece are hand shaped turquoise, shell and coral.  By hand shaped I mean a turquiose nugget was rubbed abainst a piece of sandstone or other hard rock to get the desired shape, then rubbed with a cloth to finish.

During a ceremony, the large nuggets in front were held by the shaman, a secondary loop around one of the main pieces contains 7 coral beads, six in the front and one in the back.  These represent the seven directions: front-back-left-right-up-down-heart. The heart is the one in the back

Examination of the large nuggets indicates an age of at least 60 years.  Actual age is unknown and I'm trying to be conservative in my age estimate, it probably is much older.

This is a valuable treasure in the history of the North American Continent.

I know I will never have a piece like this a second time.

$2250.00 includes shipping*

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All sizes are approximate, fringe tip to finge tip on the warp and the outside edge on the weft.