Bidspirit auction | Shirley Quam Zuni Sterling &

Shirley Quam Zuni Sterling & Sleeping Beauty Turquoise Needlepoint Cuff - Size: 6 1/2” Circumference w/ 1 1/2” Opening  Width: 1/2”  Total Weight: 22.9g    Condition: Minor tarnishing and surface scratches. Otherwise, the cuff presents well. Please see images for details.    About: Needlepoint is one of the most exacting styles in Zuni lapidary work. Each stone is cut by hand into a slim, tapered shape pointed at both ends, then set in its own silver bezel, so a single bracelet can hold dozens of matched slivers of turquoise arranged in rows or rosettes. It grew out of the cluster work Zuni jewelers developed in the mid-twentieth century and became one of the pueblo's signature styles, along with its rounder cousin, petit point. The Quam name runs deep in that tradition. John and Bonnie Quam worked in cluster and needlepoint from the 1950s, Alice Quam (1929-2003) was another documented Zuni jeweler of that name, and Shirley Quam works in the same fine style today. Sleeping Beauty turquoise, from the mine of that name near Globe, Arizona, became a favorite stone for needlepoint because of its clear, even sky blue and its lack of matrix, which lets a field of small stones read as one color. The mine stopped producing turquoise in 2012. This cuff by Shirley Quam is set in needlepoint with Sleeping Beauty turquoise.