Beautiful old Native American jewelry pieces are no longer spending time in a dusty jewelry box. These pieces are highly sought after by collectors, for either pride of possession or for investment. There are things to know before making you're purchase in vintage Native American jewerly. Most importantly is to know the piece is truly vintage. There are many pieces coming from the orient that are good knockoffs of the real thing. You will want to look for and identify any makers marks. There are a number of books and sites for you to study the old artists and their work. Very few older pieces were marked for the metal content, If the piece is truly old and you are purchasing it from a reputable seller, you will see " coin silver or better " used in their ad. One of the questions I get asked often, is the use of rolling logs as symbols. This symbol looks exactly like a German swastika, but had noting to do with that history. The Native Americans considered this shape to be a lucky symbol, it was believed to wisk away any bad spirits. Also called " Whirly gigs" and " Broken arrows " You're most important consideration is to know the mine the turquoise used in many of these pieces came from. For example, Carico Lake truquoise, has brown or khaki matrix running through it, as opposed to black. Morenci turquoise has silver Pyrite matrix that when polished looks almost like silver and Royston turquoise is almost always a deep green with heavy brown matrix. Old turquoise takes on the bodys natural oils and becomes even more beautiful then when mined! Once again, with a little home work you can learn much about the different grades and colors this beautiful stone comes in. Having collected and sold old Native American jewelry for many years, I can truly say I find it to be the most interesting collectable jewelry of this era. This jewelry is not only a great investment, but a joy to wear!