This style of Santo Domingo overlay earring came about during the depression era; there was a shortage of materials available to Native American artisans, sterling being the hardest to come by, so they started overlaying stones onto any sort of backing they could get their hands on, often using parts of battery casings and old 78 rpm records cut to size. This set is overlayed onto sections of shell. The unusual attribute of this set is the sterling stripe incorporated into the design–very unusual for this to be done–most Santo Domingo overlay pieces do not incorporate sterling into the overlay–use exclusively shell and semi-precious stones. The bails on the earrings are handmade but the wires have been replaced quite some time ago. The stones used are natural turquoise, jet and mother of pearl. Nice attention to detail on this vintage set, no artisan hallmark, some nice age patina and they’re in great condition.
