Tobe Turpen 1950s Persian Turquoise Cluster Navajo Pin Brooch

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At a Glance:

Design: Mid-Century trading post Navajo turquoise cluster sterling pin brooch with hand-laid rosette construction
Stone: Thirty high-domed turquoise cabochons consistent with Persian material
Color: Fine spiderweb matrix with natural variation, spread across a cluster that ranges from sky to vivid blues
Accent: Handmade and hand-assembled rope details with silver shots
Metal: .925 sterling silver (unmarked)
Attribution: Engraved TT | Tobe Turpen trading post 
Era: Circa 1950s, postwar trading-post period
Status: Shop-marked turquoise cluster, unmarked silver pin brooch associated with Navajo work (not artist-signed)
Condition: Excellent — see SCJ Vintage Condition Guide

Specifications:

• Wear scale: medium-large statement pin best suited for light denim and similar jackets, mantas, or scarves — structured fabrics with enough support for its weight
• Center turquoise: 1/4" x 5/16" (bezel to bezel)
• Diameter: 2 3/8"
• Weight: 41 grams — substantial for a brooch

Gallery Note: 

This turquoise cluster brooch carries the quiet authority collectors look for in trading-post jewelry: a hand-built turquoise cluster, a substantial silver backplate, original pin assembly, and a maker's mark associated with a historical Gallup trading post.

The bezels were hand-formed, the cabochons were hand-assembled, and the stones were individually placed in concentric rings with a clear center point. The layout achieves the kind of symmetry only a human hand can produce — balanced in overall composition, with natural variations in spacing, dome height, stone shape, and accent alignment that come from working by eye rather than by template. That hand-laid quality gives the brooch a sense of order without stiffness — a balanced cluster with the natural rhythm of the era's bench-made work.

The matched turquoise brings brightness and depth to the composition. Color moves from a softer sky-blue to more saturated shades, with a fine spiderweb matrix visible throughout the cluster. A longtime former owner of a Southwestern trading post, familiar with vintage turquoise, identified the material as likely Persian turquoise based on dome style, character, and period context. The attribution was subsequently confirmed by SCJ's appraiser, and it's therefore presented as an informed visual assessment by two industry professionals, rather than a laboratory origin analysis. While Iranian turquoise is most famous for a clear robin's egg appearance, documented examples show spiderweb Persian turquoise developed a following of its own in the U.S. According to reference material, the import of Persian turquoise began in the early 1890s and continued until 1979, when the U.S. implemented the first major wave of trade sanctions, cutting off most direct imports from Iran.

The silverwork supports the cluster without distracting from it. The heavier backplate gives the brooch substance, while handmade rope details and silver balls add texture and dimension between the stones. The original pin assembly and unmarked silver content are consistent with older Native American jewelry made for trading-post circulation, where shop marks, purity stamps, and artist signatures were not always applied with modern consistency.

Hallmark & Maker Notes:

This brooch is stamped TT on the reverse — a mark documented in reference sources as the retail shop control mark of Tobe Turpen’s Trading Post in Gallup, New Mexico. It is a shop mark, not an artist’s signature, and does not identify the individual maker.

That distinction matters. A related mark — a tilde, sometimes accompanied by TT — is associated with Fred Thompson (1922–2002), a Diné silversmith whose career began at age 15 working for Turpen and whose jewelry remained closely tied to the post through the 1950s. This brooch carries the plain TT mark, without the tilde, placing it with the shop’s control mark rather than Thompson’s personal hallmark.

The Turpen family story reaches back to the early 1900s, when Tobe Turpen Sr. came west from Texas and entered the trading business through family connections in Arizona. He worked in reservation trade settings, learned the Navajo language at Blue Canyon, moved through the Gallup network, and in 1939 opened his own post in a building purchased from J. L. Hubbell on North Third Street.

After World War II, Tobe Turpen Jr. joined his father in the business and later took ownership in the mid-1950s. As highway construction and changing travel routes reshaped Gallup, the post eventually relocated from North Third Street to South Second Street. During the boom years of Native American jewelry collecting, Tobe Turpen’s supplied retailers far beyond Gallup and built a strong reputation among dealers for quality material, active trade relationships, and steady jewelry placement.

The reverse of this brooch adds another layer to that working history. In addition to the TT shop mark, the back shows a scratched notation that appears to read “MIOE” or similar, with a small cross mark below it, along with remnants of two old paper tags. These are consistent with practical shop, pawn, inventory, or resale notations — the kind of back-of-piece marks used as jewelry moved through retail and trading channels. They are not maker’s marks and do not change the attribution.

This is where the broader story comes into focus. Rail and highway travel helped introduce Native American and Southwestern silverwork to a wider public, but Gallup posts helped sustain the production networks behind it. They connected makers, materials, buyers, wholesalers, and retailers at the point where jewelry was still being shaped by hand, stone by stone and setting by setting.

For collectors, that matters because jewelry associated with mid-century trading-post production often retains the character of individual bench work rather than strict duplication from a single master pattern. This brooch reflects that moment: demand was expanding, the market was reaching farther, but fabrication still depended on the maker’s eye and hand. SCJ presents the piece as a Tobe Turpen-associated, Navajo-made turquoise cluster brooch from the postwar Gallup trading-post period, with no individual maker assigned.

✨ Collector inquiries are welcome. SCJ is open to thoughtful questions, documented observations, and new information that deepens the story of a piece. With permission, selected comments from our Members may be featured in our upcoming Collectors Circle Insights publications.