W-23 HERITAGE COLLECTION - THE MAKING OF
W-23
HERITAGE
This season’s collection of pieces feature some of our best turquoise we’ve acquired to date. High grade Kingman waterweb turquoise out of Arizona. This stuff is hard to come by but we got a little lucky. Last year my dad and I visited a local turquoise shop here in Albuquerque called Sunwest Silver. He worked there for a couple decades, a couple decades ago. My uncle founded the business In the seventies and would go on to purchase many of the old Bell Trading Post assets after they went out of business.
They also have the exclusive rights to multiple turquoise mines here in the southwest including the popular Carico Lake, Fox and Royston mines. Anyways, needless to say we source most of our turquoise there. We got special access to bunch of my uncle’s newly attained high grade gems and I couldn’t let the opportunity pass. Few get access to the amount of quality turquoise we did that day. Much of what I grabbed are included in this batch of pieces.
If you’ve followed me for any time you may know I use tufa casting in the production of my heritage pieces, this collection included. That means they’re forged from old melted down, coin grade, silver. Few silversmiths still use this method today which makes it stand out among the rest. I prefer it because it gives the finished piece an added texture and finish that’s reminiscent of the old days. It also gives the piece its own fingerprint as each individual cast turns out a bit different from the last.
The stamps we use in our heritage pieces are forged in house from steel, some from old rebar, others from old carpenters nails. All are stamped with my CB hallmark
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Made true to the history and traditions of Southwest America, and don’t forget, these pieces will only be made once, so once they’re gone, they’re gone.
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Preserving tradition, for goodness’ sake!
