Fred Charley is a Navajo silversmith whose work we only buy from time to time because he does not smith silver full-time. For most of 2008 he has been working full-time as a mechanic. He says he'd rather tear down an engine and put it back together than smith silver. So he works sporadically as a silversmith as financial need deems necessary. When we get his work, it's usually by our connection with Rena Charley, his wife, who does repair work for us. Rena is the sister of Navajo smith Benny Ration and there is some dispute between Benny and Fred as to who first began making the detailed kachina pendants for which Benny has become so well-known.

This is a simple ring with a high-quality piece of spiny oyster shell set in a straight-edged bezel wrapped with twist wire. The shank consists of a length of low-dome wire 1/8" wide. It is split into three narrower bands before attaching to the ring back. Nothing fancy about this, just clean, high-polished silver work with a colorful shell. This spiny oyster shell comes from the same supplier who furnishes most of the spiny oyster used in the pieces we offer, so there are many possibilities for matches to this ring among our current stock of items. And, of course, this will match many of the items already collected by our clientele. Click here to seek color-matched items among our entire Collection of Spiny Oyster.

Note on sizing: Most of the rings on our website have relatively wide shanks. Our frequent customers have become used to getting the right fit in wider shank rings and normally buy such wider shank rings 1/4 size larger than their measured ring size. This ring has a narrow 1/8" wide shank and so we suggest that you buy your exact measured size (or 1/4 size smaller than you normally buy in wider shank rings).

This ring is hallmarked "F.C." and stamped "Sterling" inside on the ring back behind the spiny oyster set.

Spiny oyster: 1 3/16" x 5/8"           Ring face: 1 3/8" x 3/4"

Width of shank in back: 1/8"

Size 7