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An early pair of Charles Loloma Hopi silver long dangle earrings with Loloma Family provenance, c. late 1960’s
ex: Verma “Sonwai” Nequatewa collection, Hotevilla, AZ
This historic pair of earrings has only had three owners in their 55 or so year lifetime and the first two were
Charles Loloma’s family. Charles Loloma made the earrings in the late 1960’s and then gifted them to his niece and studio apprentice, Verma “Sonwai” Nequatewa around 1970. Verma kept them safe in a Hopi time warp of sorts for the next half-century wearing them only very occasionally until she sold them to us in 2021, which is actually quite amazing when you think about it.
And you can certainly see why she kept them so long, they are exceptionally beautiful, sculptural objects
and precious jewelry pieces at the same time, perfectly crafted and artistically shaped in two separate sections, elongated oval lower sections and smaller, more trapezoidally-shaped upper sections, which while different, relate perfectly to each other spatially as an attractive complete modern sculpture. The two sections are very nicely joined together with plain silver jump rings. Altogether, it’s a pure, unadulterated and sensuous design presentation.
At left, Charles Loloma and his young apprentice, Verma Nequatewa at work in the Loloma studio, 1970. At center, a modern-day view of Charles Loloma’s former studio in Hotevilla, Arizona on the Hopi Third Mesa. At right, Verma Nequatewa at the “Sonwai” retrospective exhibition opening, October 5th, 2018 at the Heard Museum in Phoenix, Arizona.
Left photo source and © Martha H. Struever “Loloma, Beauty Is His Name”, Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian, Santa Fe, 2005, pp.21
Adding significantly to the beauty, the silver surfaces are intensely polished, almost mirror-like in their
brightness, which catches and reflects the light magically as the earrings move with the body, their thinness
and lightness facilitating their movement. They look simple, but such apparent simplicity and high degree of finish
is extremely difficult to achieve. The great American and European Modernist sculptors, Alexander Calder and Constantin Brancusi would have certainly understood and appreciated these pieces.
In a larger, somewhat more spiritual sense, these earrings can be viewed as Hopi calls for rain, moisture being so central to the heart of Hopi life and ceremonialism as a deeply desert people eking out existence in an unforgiving harsh, dry desert landscape. Close your eyes slightly and their highly-polished flashing surfaces resemble silver
rain falling or a silver river flowing.
“If there is beauty in a piece of art, a person can absorb it and become more beautiful.”
-Charles Loloma
The earrings were originally fitted with older-style clip closures. We had the clips updated to more modern and more wearable silver post closures by our professional fine jeweler in Arizona who was also Charles Loloma’s fine jeweler and who still occasionally also does fine jewelry work for Verma Nequatewa.
The earrings measure an impressively-sized and very dramatic-looking 3” in length from the very top of the upper sections to the very bottom of of the lower sections. They are 5/16” wide at their widest points. They weigh an extremely comfortable and easy-to-wear 5 grams or 1/6 ounce and they are in remarkably excellent original condition, and particularly so for their fifty-five to sixty years of age. There is very little wear to be seen anywhere at all and there are no damages whatsoever.
They are in remarkably fine shape overall and the silver has acquired a wonderful, soft, glowing patina over the years. The earrings are properly and beautifully signed on their backs with Charles Loloma’s customary 11-stroke engraved stylized signature rendition of his last name. As an interesting additional side note, the upper silver sections of the earrings appear to have been very thinly cast, as can be seen from the variegated texture of the
silver on their backs.
These lovely earrings are extremely rare jewels, quite literally and figuratively, with a most distinguished
artistic family provenance. Will you become the next very fortunate person who will have the privilege and pleasure
of owning these artistically and historically important pieces?
Price $5,975
