Shopping: Santa Fe

A Good Fit

The degree of mastery in Zuni inlay jewelry is judged by how seamlessly the artisan has fused together small stones in a geometric design. Traditionally, four materials are used in Zuni inlay: turquoise, red coral, white shell, and jet. The Zuni favor turquoise from the Sleeping Beauty mine in Arizona, as it tends to be a brilliant sky-blue with little matrix (i.e., streaks of black or brown).

In shopping for a piece of inlay jewelry, you’ll probably come across three styles: stone-to-stone inlay, channel inlay, and the prized overlay-inlay. As its name implies, stone-to-stone inlay involves tightly cutting stones to fit together side by side, as in a mosaic. In channel inlay, a thin strip of silver separates each pair or course of stones, similar to the mortar between bricks. Rarest is overlay-inlay, in which the artisan makes an incised silver design, then fits the inlay work within it. Because of the time, expense, and skill required, fewer than 10 Zuni artists practice this technique today.

Tips for buying Zuni inlay jewelry:
• Ask the seller if the turquoise used in the piece is stabilized turquoise; i.e., soft, lower-grade turquoise that has been mixed with resins to make it harder, darker, and shinier. While there’s nothing wrong with this, stabilized turquoise is less expensive than, say, Sleeping Beauty turquoise, and the price of the finished piece should reflect that difference.

• Unless the piece is an antique, a reputable dealer should be able to provide you with its maker’s name and background. If not, suspect fakery.

• Generally, the smaller the stones in a piece of Zuni inlay jewelry, the greater the skill required to make it, the higher the quality, and thus the higher the price.

Keshi: The Zuni Connection, 227 Don Gaspar Ave., Santa Fe, (505) 989-8728, www.keshi.com
—Jill Koenigsdorf