Algonquin Woodland peoples know the ancient story of how the First People were saved by the gift of Grandmother Turtle’s shell, which is how this land mass came to be called Turtle Island. Wings honors not just her gift but her very being and spirit with this necklace, featuring articulated head, legs, tail, and beautifully marbled shell all bound together and cascading from a strand of jeweled beads in the shades of earth and water, sky and silvery light. Her head is formed of a beautifully complex cabochon of chrysocolla, emerald and seafoam greens arising from earthy black matrix and accented with flashes of indigo, bezel-set and trimmed with twisted silver. Her body is a truly remarkable cabochon made of a single slice of natural pinecone, wafer-thin and embedded in a layer of resin aswirl in shades of translucent emerald green and black. Sterling silver pattern wire in a molded floral pattern with echoes of Art Nouveau styling create her legs, arched outward form her body and ready to move, while her tail, like the slider-style bail from which she hangs, is a flared triangle of sterling silver, stamped freehand. She dances from a cascade of ultra-high-grade gemstone beads, two old natural chrysocolla cabochons bisected by a single orb of iron pyrite at the center, flowing into spheres of highly polished ocean jasper in two sizes, flanked by long jet barrels and alternating with sterling silver and iron pyrite accents. Moving upward, the beads form a gradients of greens and blues, electric  green chrome diopside and softer jade flowing into blue spiderweb turquoise in two sizes, all set off by iron pyrite flanked by sterling silver, with tiny diamond-cut sterling silver anchors at either end. Beads are strung on ultra-strong tri-ply foxtail coated in silver for color and held with sterling silver findings. Bead strand hangs 23″ long, excluding findings; pendant including bail is 3-5/8″ long; without bail, 3″ long by 1-7/8″ across at the widest point; bail itself is 5/8″ long by 5/8″ across at the widest point; round setting is 1-7/16″ across with a cabochon of 1-3/16″ across; oval setting is 1-3/16″ long by 1sts 5/16″ across at the widest, with a cabochon of 1″ long by 3/4″ across at the widest point; turtle’s pattern-wire “legs” are 1/8″ across (all dimensions approximate). Close-up and full views of pendant shown below.

Pendant:  Sterling silver; chrysocolla; pinecone in resin
Beads: Old ultra-high-grade chrysocolla; iron pyrite; jet; Pietersite; ocean jasper; sterling silver;
chrome diopside; jade; blue spiderweb turquoise; diamond-cut sterling silver
$1,400 + shipping, handling, and insurance
SOLD

Close-up of pendant:

Full view of beads:

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