Chimney Butte Cluster Pendant, Palomino Variscite, Navajo Sterling Silver
A cluster pendant by Chimney Butte set with seven palomino variscite stones, running from soft green to bright yellow.
Specifications
- Metal: Sterling silver
- Artist: Chimney Butte (Navajo)
- Made: 2026
- Stone: Palomino Variscite, cabochon
- Length with bail: 3.4 inches (8.6 cm)
- Pendant drop: 2.5 inches (6.3 cm)
- Width at the widest point: 2 inches (5.1 cm)
- Weight: 74 grams
- Bail opening: 17.5 mm
Hallmarks
- Chimney Butte, script maker's stamp
- Sterling
Both marks are struck on the back. The Chimney Butte stamp is the maker's mark; Sterling is the silver standard.
About the Piece
Seven stones in seven different shapes, ovals and teardrops and freeforms, arranged around a long central cabochon and separated by applied silver drops of varying size. Nothing is symmetrical and nothing is meant to be. Cluster work is about fitting stones to each other rather than to a plan.
The colour is the reason to buy this one. Palomino runs yellow green to olive with brown and white matrix cutting through, and no two stones in this cluster read the same. Against oxidised silver it goes almost chartreuse in daylight.
The frame is a scalloped oval with a fan stamp in every scallop and a stamped ring inside it.
Palomino variscite is a green to yellow green stone from Nevada. It is a variscite, a separate mineral from turquoise.
Chimney Butte is a Navajo (Dine) silversmith working out of New Mexico in a deliberately old style idiom: heavy gauge sterling, deep hand stamping, repousse, sandcast work, and good named mine turquoise. The mark is one of the most recognisable in contemporary Southwestern silver, which is part of why the work holds its value. Every piece is stamped Chimney Butte and Sterling on the back.
Styling
It hangs from a wide stamped bail that takes a heavy chain, so it will sit on Navajo pearls, a thick box chain, or a leather cord without looking under hung. Worn alone it does all the work; it does not need layering.
Condition
Excellent. Newly made and unworn, with the deep oxidised finish the maker applies to the stamped recesses.
Please review all photographs carefully, as they form an important part of the description.
This listing is for the pendant only. Chains shown in photographs are for styling purposes and are not included.
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