Description
Ernest Begay Navajo Oversized turquoise cluster ring. Biggest and best ring ever<br>with top quality natural Nevada turquoise. Typically a huge ring is in the 30<br>gram range, this is 110.5 grams size 8, contemporary ring by a well known and<br>respected artisan with no damage or detectable wear. 3" x 4" face.<br><br>Navajo artist Ernest R. Begay Sr. was born and raised in Kayenta - Chilchinbeto,<br>AZ. In 1975-76, Ernest took a silversmithing class at Monument Valley High<br>School. “We used copper in the class, but that’s where I got my start. I took<br>the class because it looked like something fun and easy to do. I used to watch<br>my brother-in-law, and his father make jewelry, they used to give me scrap<br>silver to work with,” recalls Ernest.<br><br>Ernest’s career in jewelry making didn’t really take off until he entered some<br>rather distinguished pieces into the Navajo Nation Fair and the Gallup<br>Intertribal Indian Ceremonial. Here, he received many awards and ribbons, which<br>helped him begin his career as jewelry artist.<br><br>Over the years, Ernest has slowly built a reputation for coral and turquoise<br>cluster work on heavy gauge silver with deep custom-designed stamp work. Ernest<br>gets much inspiration from traditional and old jewelry styles. “Concho belts,<br>squash blossoms, bracelets, necklaces, rings, earrings, and belt buckles, I do<br>them all in my own signature old style series. This old style jewelry always<br>caught my eye. I used to go to the Trading Posts just to look at some of the old<br>pawn on display. The ones that caught my attention were always the pieces that<br>used the thick silver, and the stamp work on them,” says Ernest. Ernest now<br>lives in New Mexico with his wife, Readda, and twins Ernest Jr. and Faith Begay.
