Every once in a while, turquoise does something completely unexpected.
Instead of arriving blue and loud and announcing itself from across the room, this Dry Creek went nearly white—two little winter landscapes suspended inside silver. Ramona Laloma built the settings around them like a pair of wings caught mid-turn: not perfectly identical, not overly controlled, and absolutely alive.
They feel less like matching earrings and more like two fragments from the same beautiful creature.
Why This Piece Matters
Exceptional Dry Creek turquoise occupies its own strange little universe. Its pale, almost porcelain coloring breaks every assumption about what turquoise is supposed to look like, while the delicate brown and smoky matrix proves that the stone was formed by the earth—not manufactured into perfection.
Ramona Laloma’s silverwork amplifies that organic character. Each stone is surrounded by twisted wire, deep oxidized channels, stamped accents, and a dramatically extended silver flourish. The earrings mirror one another without becoming mechanical copies, giving the pair a sense of movement and personality.
At 14 grams, they also have considerably more silver presence than a typical pair of turquoise studs while remaining comfortable and wearable.
Artifact Registry
- Artist: Ramona Laloma
- Hallmark: R. LALOMA
- Origin: Southwestern Native American jewelry
- Materials: Dry Creek turquoise and sterling silver
- Construction: Hand-fabricated bezels with twisted-wire borders, stamped silverwork and oxidized detailing
- Style: Sculptural post earrings
- Length: Approximately 1.5 inches
- Combined weight: 14 grams
- Era: Vintage
- Collector’s Gallery Value: $795
Curator’s Field Observation
The stones are the immediate event, but the asymmetry is what makes the earrings special. Ramona allowed each piece of turquoise to dictate its own architecture. One wing curls inward; the other reaches outward. Together, they create a balanced pair without sacrificing the individuality of either stone.
The pale Dry Creek also works beautifully with the aged silver. Instead of a hard contrast, the entire composition lives in shades of ivory, smoke, warm earth and oxidized gray.
Eric’s Notes from the Field
Okay, these are fucking fantastic.
They look like two ancient silver wings carrying pieces of a frozen desert sky—which is a completely insane sentence for a pair of earrings, but look at them. The Dry Creek is so pale it almost stops being turquoise and becomes something slightly supernatural.
And I love that Ramona didn’t force the silver into perfect symmetry. They match, but they aren’t twins. They’re sisters with very different opinions.
Every once in a while, turquoise does something completely unexpected.
Instead of arriving blue and loud and announcing itself from across the room, this Dry Creek went nearly white—two little winter landscapes suspended inside silver. Ramona Laloma built the settings around them like a pair of wings caught mid-turn: not perfectly identical, not overly controlled, and absolutely alive.
They feel less like matching earrings and more like two fragments from the same beautiful creature.
Why This Piece Matters
Exceptional Dry Creek turquoise occupies its own strange little universe. Its pale, almost porcelain coloring breaks every assumption about what turquoise is supposed to look like, while the delicate brown and smoky matrix proves that the stone was formed by the earth—not manufactured into perfection.
Ramona Laloma’s silverwork amplifies that organic character. Each stone is surrounded by twisted wire, deep oxidized channels, stamped accents, and a dramatically extended silver flourish. The earrings mirror one another without becoming mechanical copies, giving the pair a sense of movement and personality.
At 14 grams, they also have considerably more silver presence than a typical pair of turquoise studs while remaining comfortable and wearable.
Artifact Registry
- Artist: Ramona Laloma
- Hallmark: R. LALOMA
- Origin: Southwestern Native American jewelry
- Materials: Dry Creek turquoise and sterling silver
- Construction: Hand-fabricated bezels with twisted-wire borders, stamped silverwork and oxidized detailing
- Style: Sculptural post earrings
- Length: Approximately 1.5 inches
- Combined weight: 14 grams
- Era: Vintage
- Collector’s Gallery Value: $795
Curator’s Field Observation
The stones are the immediate event, but the asymmetry is what makes the earrings special. Ramona allowed each piece of turquoise to dictate its own architecture. One wing curls inward; the other reaches outward. Together, they create a balanced pair without sacrificing the individuality of either stone.
The pale Dry Creek also works beautifully with the aged silver. Instead of a hard contrast, the entire composition lives in shades of ivory, smoke, warm earth and oxidized gray.
Eric’s Notes from the Field
Okay, these are fucking fantastic.
They look like two ancient silver wings carrying pieces of a frozen desert sky—which is a completely insane sentence for a pair of earrings, but look at them. The Dry Creek is so pale it almost stops being turquoise and becomes something slightly supernatural.
And I love that Ramona didn’t force the silver into perfect symmetry. They match, but they aren’t twins. They’re sisters with very different opinions.
