Sterling Silver LE Signed Turquoise Southwest Cast Cuff Bracelet 6.25 Inch

This sterling silver cuff bracelet centers an elongated oval turquoise cabochon in a plain bezel, flanked on both sides by open cast silver loops and stamped rosette buttons. The turquoise is a deep teal green with darker matrix drifting through the body of the stone, a color that reads far richer than the bright sky blue most people picture, and the bezel is left completely unornamented so nothing competes with it. The silver on either side is cast in flowing open teardrop shapes rather than sawn from sheet, which gives the metal that soft molten edge and the slightly irregular surface texture you can see along the arms. Between the loops and the stone sit two domed buttons, each ringed with fine radiating stamp work struck by hand around a raised center dome.

The design vocabulary here is classic Southwest silverwork: cast openwork, a single significant stone, hand-struck stamping, and deliberate negative space instead of surface clutter. The cuff tapers to plain flat terminals and the arms are thin enough to adjust slightly for fit. It is signed LE and stamped STERLING on the interior.

At approximately 6.25 inches including the opening, this suits a small to average wrist and can be gently squeezed or opened for a closer fit.

Details:
Metal: Sterling silver
Hallmarks: STERLING, LE
Stone: Oval turquoise cabochon
Design: Cast openwork arms with hand-stamped rosette buttons
Size: 6.25 inches
Condition: Excellent estate condition

Fun Facts:
Silversmithing came to the Southwest in the mid-1800s, and turquoise was not set into silver there until roughly the 1880s; before that the stone was drilled and strung as beads for centuries, with the Cerrillos mines in New Mexico worked as far back as 900 AD.
Turquoise owes its blue to copper and its green to iron, which is why stones from copper-rich deposits run sky blue while iron-bearing ground produces the deep teal seen here.