Sterling Silver Concho
Feathers and Quill Earrings
HK Item #E586

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stamped sterling silver concho, feathers, and quill earrings wire-style

Sterling Silver Concho
Feathers and Quill Earrings

E586 - $135 plus s/h
(ONLY ONE PAIR AVAILABLE)

condition	pre-owned, excellent, dark patina
size	3" long including wire
materials	porcupine quill; sterling silver, read about silver
hallmarks	inscribed: EAT
artist	unknown

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About Silver

100% solid silver won't tarnish but it is too soft to use for making jewelry - it could easily be scratched, dented and bent. Sterling silver has a small amount of one or more other metals usually copper, added to the silver. To be called sterling silver, the alloy must contain at least 92.5% pure silver. Sterling silver alloy is harder than pure silver but the added metals also can cause discoloration or tarnish.

About Porcupine Quill Work

Porcupine quill work is one of the oldest, and fastest disappearing, traditional Native American art forms. The Great Lakes and Plains Indians lived in the range of the porcupine and utilized the quills to decorate moccasins, sheaths, baskets, pipe stems and more. A porcupine was not sacrificed to obtain the quills, instead the women of the tribe would throw a blanket over an unsuspecting porcupine who would release the quills as a defense and leave them in the blanket.

The quills are cleaned and dyed with plant origin colors such as buffalo berry for red, sunflower or cone flower for yellow, and wild grapes for black. Once dry, they are oiled so they wouldn't become brittle and shatter when sewing them.

Beading began replacing quillwork in the early 1800s and today there are only a few artists that carry on the traditionof working with porcupine quills.

Horsekeeping LLC - Definitions of Jewelry Age and Condition © 2015 Horsekeeping LLC © Copyright Information
Patina	A dark or colored film of oxidation that forms naturally on metal exposure to air and other elements. It is often valued for its aesthetically pleasing appearance.
Vintage	30 years or older.
NOS	New Old Stock. Retail store inventory from at least 10 years ago.
Pre-owned	An item that has been used.

NOTE: Items in our Vintage Shop are either USED or NEW. They might come from inheritances, estate sales, private collections, and store liquidations. Many items are brand new (NOS, New Old Stock) and in perfect condition while others may show tarnish, scratches and other signs of use. Major issues will be described in detail and shown in photos. Vintage Shop items are sold as described and are not returnable.

Why isn't this item called Native American?

The US Department of the Interior Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990 and its recent Amendments require that items described as Native American or Indian be made by an enrolled member of a federally recognized tribe. Furthermore, government regulations suggest that all attributions include the Native American Indian's name, tribe and federal tribal enrollment number. Because it is impossible to identify the artist for many vintage items, even if they are authentic Indian made items, we cannot and will not use the words Native American or Indian in association with such pieces.

Read about authenticity of Native American Indian jewelry.

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.

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

Sterling Silver Concho Feathers and Quill Earrings HK Item #E586

About Silver

About Porcupine Quill Work

Why isn't this item called Native American?

Our Rescue Missionof Native American Indian Jewelry and Artifacts

Sterling Silver Concho
Feathers and Quill Earrings
HK Item #E586

Our Rescue Mission
of Native American Indian Jewelry and Artifacts