3-Strand Abalone Bird Necklace BBN408

3-strand abalone birds necklace 26 1/2 inches long

Birds 5/8" long. 2mm heishi.

3-strand abalone birds necklace 26 1/2 inches long

The Grizzli Collection

Garris was an attorney in New York City, and was once an assistant district attorney for Queens County. It was during her legal career that she was nicknamed "Grizzli" by her colleagues for her relentless aggression in the courtroom going after white collar criminals; her late husband, David, called her "Grizzli" ever since they met, and her license plate also read"Grizzli". When Garris attended law school, she met her best friend Gila, who moved to Tucson, and it was on trips to Arizona visiting Gila that Garris fell in love with Native American jewelry, especially pieces with birds or turtles (given her nickname). David was half Cherokee, and even though Garris was very much a Jewish New Yorker without any personal connection to tribal culture or artwork, her love for David amplified her interest in Native American symbolism. Over the years, she amassed an extensive collection of southwest jewelry. We are pleased to find new homes for Grizzli's collection. Many pieces, although beautiful, are not Native American made, and that's why we are selling them here in the Bargain Barn.

Is it Mother of Pearl or Abalone?

Abalone and mother of pearl are both nacre, the iridescent inner shell layer of various mollusks. Mother or pearl is the nacre of pearl oysters and freshwater mussels and has a milky white or silver appearance; it is also the substance that forms pearls. Abalone usually refers to the darker, more colorful nacre specifically from abalone shells.
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Our Rescue Mission
of Native American Indian Jewelry and Artifacts

We are in the vintage Native American jewelry rescue business and are passionate about finding new homes for used and vintage jewelry and artifacts. That's why we purchase Native American pieces from estates, inheritances, collection downsizing and New Old Stock (NOS) inventory from closed stores.

Often people contact us after taking a box of Native American jewelry to their local pawn shop and find that a pawn shop is mainly interested in melt value of the metals and not in preserving the beautiful historic pieces. To hear that people have considered selling these treasures for melt value makes us truly sad.

Melt value is usually far below what we would offer for the jewelry. Yet we can't pay retail price for items because of the time and cost involved in finding new homes for them. We have to research, often repair and restore the jewelry, photograph and list each item on our website, and sometimes hold pieces in inventory for years until the right buyer comes along.

Items that are Mexican go in our Mexican Shop. Other items not Native American made or that we cannot verify as such go into our Bargain Barn where you can find some real treasures at low prices.

We hope you'll find something special in our vintage shop that will complete yet another circle of our jewelry re-homing mission.

3-Strand Bird Necklace

HK Item #BBN408

The Grizzli Collection

Is it Mother of Pearl or Abalone?

Our Rescue Mission
of Native American Indian Jewelry and Artifacts

3-Strand Bird Necklace

HK Item #BBN408

The Grizzli Collection

Is it Mother of Pearl or Abalone?

Our Rescue Missionof Native American Indian Jewelry and Artifacts

Our Rescue Mission
of Native American Indian Jewelry and Artifacts