Vintage Zuni Sterling Inlay Roadrunner Pin Native American Signed Lesansee

  
Vintage Zuni Inlay Roadrunner Pin/Pendant - Signed VBL (Blake & Velma Lesansee) - Rare & Highly Collectible. This is a vintage previously owned item that is in good condition for its age. Item has scuffs, scrapes and scratches and is missing some adhesive between stones. See photos for more detail. This piece is signed "VBL" - with the right side of the letter V forming the left side of the letter B, followed by an L. As collectors know, VBL is the hallmark/maker's mark of the famed Zuni husband and wife team Blake and Velma Lesansee. The piece was likely made sometime in the 1960s or 1970s. Unfortunately, both Blake and Velma are now deceased. Blake died in 1988 and Velma died in 2013. The Lesansee's work is sited in several books about Zuni jewelry making Bassman, Theda - "Zuni Jewelry" West Chester, PA: Schiffer Publishing Co. Also in Bell, Ed and Barbara - Zuni: The Art and the People Vol.

3 Dallas, TX: Taylor Publishing Company, 1977, p. If you search online you'll see that their work sells in the thousands of dollars and is highly valued.

I think you'll find that this is one of the lowest priced Blake and Velma Lesansee-made pieces currently available. While the Lesansee's are best known for their intricately made Inlay Owls, they also created other works - usually depicting animals that were common near the Lesansee's home in Zuni, New Mexico. This item is a small pin/pendant/brooch depicting a Roadrunner with amazing inlay work featuring Turquoise, Coral, Mother of Pearl, Desert Tortoise Shell and Obsidian or Jet. The Desert Tortoise was placed on the Endangered Species List in 1973 as a Threatened Species. From that point on, it has been illegal to use their shell to make jewelry.

As a result, this piece can reliably be said to have been made sometime before 1973. Please note that the preceding list of materials used in the inlay work of this piece of jewelry is my best guess. I'm not an expert, but I'm providing the information I believe to be true.