Two Dogs Southwest Gallery

I’m continually amazed on how many places and preferences that Toni M. and I intersect. The Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland is one and Two Dogs Southwest Gallery is another among many. And please forgive me Toni, as there may be one or two more Republicans on my otherwise light blue Liberal November ballot.
There’s something about Northern New Mexico and other parts of the Southwest that speak to me. And I have the turquoise at home to prove it! Of course, when you go shopping for this stuff, the pedigree and quality can be all over the map. I’ve eventually settled on a few sellers that I can trust, whether it be the Palms in Albuquerque or Two Dogs Southwest Gallery over the Internet.
Two Dogs is usually running a 15% off sale, which on one level seems «pricey» considering the 50% off come ons that you get in many brick and mortar stores. Who knows what the real price should be, but I have consistently found both the selection, quality, and value of the merchandise here to be at the head of the class. It also helps that their web site is easy to navigate, features a huge variety of stuff, and has great pictures. Oddly enough, I sometimes groan when one of their emails come in, as the resulting temptation can be too much.

I seem to have bad luck w/​malachite earrings. I lost one from a favorite pair, an oblong slab about ¾″ or an inch long, held by a simple, modern settling. You know how when you lose something you really like it sets you on a hunt for something to replace it as closely as possible and because it’s almost impossible to replicate, you end up buying several successive approximations? Well, that’s what I did. I found two or three different pairs, all different, all nice, none exactly like the one I lost. But one pair came pretty close. They were 3/​8″ square w/​malachite set w/​onyx, from a Navajo jeweler named Jimmy Poyer. I wore them a fair amount and then I discovered on our return from Kansas City that I’d lost one of those! F*ck knows how!
I checked Twin Rocks Trading Post and found nothing, so I Googled Southwest malachite earrings and found a few galleries. Two Dogs had two pair that were attractive. I debated between them and chose the one by another Navajo jeweler named Will Denetdale, whose work I was familiar w/​from Twin Rocks. Imagine my surprise when I received a 10% discount. Since I went directly to the earrings rather than to the gallery’s homepage I missed that they were doing that as a Father’s Day special. They don’t have a brick and mortar store, just an online presence. The story of how they got their name is funny. You can read it on their website. Sue was easy and pleasant to work w/​and the earrings arrived looking even more beautiful than their photo. I didn’t sign up for their mailing list because I don’t need more temptation, but I have another great place to check when I’m on a hunt for something.