Love Southwestern Indian jewelry? Beware of rip-offs!
November 3rd, 2009
Style Matters loves going down to Santa Fe and browsing the galleries for beautiful silver and turquoise jewelry. After hearing about all the fakes, we are going to be extra careful. Th Indian Arts and Crafts Association estimates that 75 percent of the $1 billion jewelry, pottery and rugs sold every year in places like Santa Fe are not authentic. As many as 90 percent of the jewelry that is supposed to be authentic is fake. The phony stuff is imported from China, Thailand and the Philippines. Some pieces even have
real gems and are very difficult to tell from the real thing. Both the quantity and quality are improving. Phony jewelry is even stamped with the forged signatures of well-known Native American artists. So if you want your money to go toward supporting indigenous Native American arts and culture, make sure you aren’t being fooled by fakes, kimosabes.
Shop at reputable stores and ask lots of questions.
