Born in 1969, Darrel Cadman is the brother of well-known silversmith Andy Cadman and a half-brother of renowned smiths Gary and Sunshine Reeves. This group of relatively young smiths (35 to 40 years old) all learned much of their trade from David Reeves (Gary and Sunshine's full-brother who is now deceased). The Cadman brothers and the Reeves brothers, therefore, share a common element of apprenticeship and exhibit certain similarities in their work. Darrel has been smithing silver since 1992.

Darrel Cadman began making this new design in mid-summer of 2006, usually producing three or four of these pendants at a time. We spent a couple of months cherry-picking the prettiest stones and spiny oyster so we could show a collection of these beauties. This piece holds a superbly cut long oval of natural Royston turquoise from Nevada. The stone is mostly pale blue with green cloud edging the matrix in the center. It has a nice soft dome and steeply beveled edges; a truly superior cut. The matrix itself ranges in color from chestnut to light sandy. This stone is set in a straight-edged bezel wrapped with twist wire, while radiating bands of stampwork and repoussée forms terminate at the nicely defined scalloped edge. The bale is large and adorned with repoussée diamonds and starred buttons.

An example of Darrel's work is pictured on page 48 of American Indian Jewelry I: 1,200 Artist Biographies by Gregory Schaaf (photo provided by Chacodog.com). Darrel's current hallmark consists of a ram's head and "D. Cadman" with "Sterling" stamped inside.

Stone: 1 3/8" x 11/16"

Overall dimensions of pendant (excluding bale): 3 1/8" x 2 3/8"

Width of bale: 1/2"            Opening of bale: 7/16" or 10 mm.

Total hang: 3 5/8"