
Why is the ‘mother of pearl’ gold charm not getting the spotlight?
- July 7, 2021
The silver, blue, and green jewelry made from the mother of pearl, or the pearls, has been hailed as a symbol of wealth and status.
But according to the National Museum of the American Indian, it is actually just another form of jewelry.
And the museum says its newest museum exhibit “provides a very different look at the origins of the mother pearl.”
“This is a very rich and varied culture,” said Dr. Jennifer Skelton, who led the project.
“The mother pearl has been around for so long.
It is a part of our traditional jewelry and it’s a part that is very unique.”
The pearls have also been called the mother, the father, and the baby.
Skelon said the museum hopes to use the pearl jewelry to highlight a range of different cultural aspects of the Mother of Pearl, including her connection to Native Americans, as well as the role that Native Americans played in the development of the pearllas.
The museum has been working to preserve the mother pearls as part of the Native American Heritage Trail since it was founded in 1998.
“In the last 20 years, there have been many challenges, but we are finally getting to the place where we can start to look at it with some real passion and care,” said Skelson.
“This work has to be done in the best possible way, because there’s really nothing better than finding something that is truly beautiful, and that’s why we’re really excited to be part of this new project.”
The project started when Skel.
and her husband, the curator of the museum, came across a gold necklace from the 1930s that was part of a collection of artifacts from the Navajo community.
“We thought it would be interesting to see if there were any other pieces of jewelry from the period that had a connection to the Mother,” Skelons told CBS News.
The Skelins decided to see what else they could find that had such a connection.
They dug through thousands of artifacts in the collection to find something unique.
The first piece that came to mind was the pearl necklace that was worn by a Navajo woman named Alice, a daughter of a prominent member of the Navajo Nation.
The necklace, according to Skeltons, was made from an animal hide that was later wrapped around the neck and held in place by beads.
The bead is believed to have been part of her burial dress.
“One of the great things about this project is that it is very collaborative, that we’re all working together to create something that can be very meaningful,” Slevons said.
The project will include a live auction to determine which piece of jewelry will be the subject of the most interest to the public.
Slevson hopes to make it possible to collect more pieces of pearls and the pearl bracelet and then share them with the public at an annual show.
“I think that’s the beauty of this whole project is not just to be in one place, but to be able to be open to the world and to be really engaged with it and be able connect with other cultures and to really understand the way that they have shaped the history of this part of America,” she said.
“If we’re able to make this part a little more accessible, I think we’ll be able see something really beautiful, I promise you that.”