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Our Road Is Long

SilverTQ, LLC  (formerly KESA, LLC) has a long history (since the mid 1970’s) of going to the southwest USA region during the early Spring to purchase new authentic Native American Indian jewelry items for our upcoming season.  We pick this time of year for several reasons.  The Christmas selling season is over and the summer tourist season has not yet started.  Many business account have not begun stocking their stores, and therefore there is a larger amount of authentic Native American Indian jewelry and crafts available to purchase.  We commonly spend close to two months choosing products while we are visiting these southwest jewelry and crafts producing areas.  Most businesses do not spend nearly this amount of time, if they travel at all, which some do not.

All Silver And Only Authentic

The most important  policy we stress for our buying authentic Native American Indian jewelry would be for all items to be made of sterling silver, and is handcrafted by a reputable Native American Indian artist.  We do not, under any circumstances, purchase imported items that are falsely made to look like true Native American Indian handcrafted jewelry and crafts.  Sadly, not all sellers aspire to this same philosophy.  In fact, it was the misrepresentation and fraudulent behavior of some businesses that caused us to start traveling to the southwest region to purchase directly from the artist.  It was mandatory for us to assuredly guarantee authentic craftsmanship of  every jewelry and craft piece we acquired.

Home Spun Creations

Most of these handcrafted items, jewelry and crafts, are produced in a cottage style industry, where the artists sell their finished merchandise and then go to the local materials supply house to purchase more silver and stones.  These Native American Indian artists typically create the new items at their homes and then bring them to town to sell, or sometimes contact us to inform us they have jewelry or crafts to sell.  This is essentially a “timeless” industry that has changed little over the many past decades.

There typically are few “middlemen,” just the artist directly selling their own creations.  There are some Native American Indians that perform their work in designated shops, creating jewelry in more replicable styles, but the bulk of what we purchase comes from those artists who create at their homes and come to town to sell.  In the past we used to travel to the Indian reservation to meet with the artists at their homes.  This proved not to be a good working plan.  Oftentimes, we encountered artists who had not finished their pieces, or they sold them a day or two earlier, or they were in town, etc.  We spent a lot of wasted time and gas to not find much.  We finally decided the best policy in most instances was to wait for the artist to travel to town when they’re ready to sell.

The Art of Buying

The most efficient way we acquire interested and well-made items with some regularity is to spend time to learn what artist is bringing in finished product, and what they have to sell.  Small items such as earrings and pendants might be offered in multiples.  In these instances, we then choose the items we feel are the best pieces.  Larger jewelry items such as necklaces, concho belts, etc. are often brought in by the artist to sell one at a time.  Being patient and taking our time to choose, we have a better probability to acquire unique pieces made with outstanding stones and excellent silver work, as sometimes that is the only time we see these items offered for sale.

Our company “mantra” has always been to honestly promote our outstanding authentic Native American Indian jewelry and craft items at a reasonable and fair price.  It’s impossible to be the best if you are always the least expensive.  We do firmly believe in good quality work, and just like most everything else, you do get what you pay for.

Time For New Discoveries

We at Silver and Turquoise Native American Jewelers, LLC are continually ordering and receiving new merchandise made by reputable Native American silversmiths.  This is the time of year when special customer requests can be handled and created by these artists.  Christmas season has ended and the next popular holiday is not until Valentine’s Day.  This time period will offer some artistic expression and creativity to be exercised.  Wishing for something you have not been able to find?   Well, you’ve come to the right place!  All you need to do is contact us and we will be happy to assist in any way we can.

Please keep in mind special custom orders will not ship immediately.   Additional time needs to be given for us to contact a particular artist and for the time required for them to produce the piece(s).  We would ask that you be as specific in your request as possible.  Please remember that handcrafted items will never be exactly the same as, say, a photo of an item.  We will certainly do our best to make sure you’re fully satisfied.

Lots Of Unlisted Items

Silver and Turquoise Native American Jewelers, LLC has an extensive inventory that is not currently listed 0n our website.  Consequently, there’s a possibility we might have something the same or similar to what you might be looking for.  Contact us and we’ll promptly let you know!

Always Sterling Silver

Every Native American jewelry item we market is sterling silver, consisting of 92.5% pure silver.  The remaining 7.5% content is of other metals, most commonly copper.   A higher percentage of silver content causes the metal to be too soft and not suitable for most jewelry.

Please be aware that there is a product labeled “nickel silver” or sometimes called “German silver” that is in fact, NOT silver, and has NO silver content.  The usual content of this product consists of  60% copper, 20% nickel and 20% zinc.  Nickel silver is named for its silvery appearance, but it contains no elemental silver.  It can sometimes be passed off as being authentic sterling silver thus leaving the consumer to assume it is but another name for it.

Every item carried by Silver & Turquoise Native American Jewelers, LLC is warranted as being sterling silver.  The only exceptions may be found on some of the attachments or “findings” used for making jewelry items such as money clips, keychains, bolo slide backs, barrettes and combs.  However, the material used for the main body or “face” of these pieces will always be of handcrafted sterling silver.  We always invite questions for clarification, as we want our customers to have complete confidence in all of our products.

Why Choose Us?

There are not many purveyors of authentic Native American jewelry and crafts that have been in continuous business as long as we have.  Since establishing our formidable wholesale business in 1978, we have solely specialized in selling Native American jewelry and craft items handcrafted in the southwest USA.  Our products have always been handcrafted by the Navajo, Zuni Pueblo, Hopi Pueblos, Santo Domingo Pueblo, and various other Pueblo tribes found mostly residing along the Rio Grande River.  Our guiding principal was to honestly represent the products as being completely handcrafted in the USA by Native American artists.  We have never strayed from this path, and you will never find imports, or imitation goods offered.  Whether you are looking for Indian made sterling silver earrings, sterling silver bracelets, sterling silver rings, sterling silver concho belts, sterling silver necklaces, table fetishes, miniature Kachinas, or any of the other jewelry and crafts you have come to the right place!

A Vast Selection

It is not uncommon for some competitors to procure their Native American jewelry and craft items from a limited area or region of where their products are made.  In other words, they may choose to primarily acquire their items from just a few sources.  While there is nothing inherently wrong with this business practice, what they offer may start to have the ‘oneness’ of look that we try to avoid. When we travel and go on a buying trip, we focus on going to a wide variety of locations offering varied designs and artistic techniques. Silver and Turquoise Native American Jewelers, LLC represents native American craftsmen from all styles and tribal affiliations.  Adhering to this marketing strategy, we feel, provides our customers with a rich and wide assortment of the most interesting Native American jewelry and craft items available. We carry a large inventory of products, always highlighting our newest acquisitions.  If we don’t happen to have that special item you’re in search of, there’s a good possibility we can find or even have it made by a reputable Native American artist.  One thing for certain, any item purchased from our company will always be authentically handcrafted by a Native American artist.  That’s our promise fully guaranteed!