Phil and Fannie Bitsoi-Russell
are a husband and wife team from Chinle area of the Navajo Nation.
Together they produce some of the finest in contemporary gold
and silver Native American jewelry.
Using only the finest materials,
Phil and Fannie pride themselves on their meticulous attention
to detail and the painstaking labor required to get each piece
"just right."
Their work is highly innovative,
but has been inspired by some of the greats, including Charles
Loloma and Jesse Monongya. Like their contemporaries, Phil and
Fannie search high and low for the special materials that will
go into each piece. Selecting the right stones with the right
characteristics is an art itself.
Phil and Fannie make it look
easy, as they inlay precious and semi-precious stones and shells
into their pendants, rings, and bracelets.
This solid 14kt gold bracelet
is a great example. It's literally loaded with gem grade materials
like the gorgeous Lander Blue turquoise nugget, the natural Australian
opal, or the blood-red Salmon coral. Other materials include
Ithaca Peak turquoise, Chinese turquoise, sugelite, and black
jade.
The idea behind this piece
is that heaven (represented by the blue stones) and earth (represented
by the red coral) are joined in that space where rays of light
break through the atmosphere and illumiate the world.
The Landers Blue stone represents
the universe or the cosmos.
The Landers Blue Turquoise
Mine was located between Battle Mountain and Tenabo in Lander
County, Nevada. In the 1970s this incredible Turquoise stone
was mined from a small pocket, and has produced some of the most
beautiful and unique type turquoise seen today.
Color varies from a deep blue
to a light blue spider web in very black contrasting matrix.
Some of the turquoise specks are as small as a dot or a period
at the end of a sentence. This is one of the few mines that produced
almost nothing but spider web.
The owner of the mine extracted
everything that was available, which was a limited quantity therefore
making this rare find some of the most valued turquoise today.
When each stone and each designed piece now in the market is
gone, this will be the end of this beautiful stone and a collectors
dream. Unlike other turquoise stones, Landers Blue turquoise
is sold by the carat at over $500 per carat for the best stones.
