Carved by Ronnie Upshaw Turpen during the early 80s.  Ronnie was one of the well-known Upshaw brothers in Gallup, NM.  The brothers, under the early guidance of their dad, Frank Turpen and his partner Stan Bartos, and surrogate brother Johnny Sheyka from Zuni, revolutionized fetish carving in the Indian business.  They began carving as teenagers in the 70s.  Ronnie was a large boy who could create delicate carvings despite his massive hands.   His hands were like small hams.  He loved to challenge himself with carving such as he did with this and the amber beads.  (I am using this same narrative for the amber beads listing as well.)  When he put a small hummingbird on his finger, it would literally disappear while he carved it.  Often, he burned or cut his fingers and had to use SuperGlue to keep working.  He seldom used jewelers sticks like the Zunis do for delicate work.  Once carved, he had to drill each piece so that it could be strung for a necklace.  Many pieces broke in the process, which factor into carving costs; especially with expensive Bering Sea amber.

   He took about six months to carve this amber fetish necklace and the graduated Amber bead necklace (also listed on eBay).  Equally challenging was carving the heshe beads.  They are the finest handmade beads that I saw during my career (38 years) in the Indian business.  They are less than 1mm.  He put each piece of amber on fine wire to shape the beads.  I watched him throughout the process as he created these pieces in addition to his regular carving.   Nobody could carve such delicate pieces as Ronnie Upshaw.  These are so extraordinary that I never offered them for sale.  They have been in my personal collection.  Fortunately, I did not have to feed or water them.  The necklace has graduated strands with 54 total hummingbirds.  Each is 3/8”.  The total length is 20” and it hangs as ~8”.  There are a few beads missing near the cones but they are on the backside of the neck.  The cones have not been polished.  

 There aren’t many amber fetish carvings because of the difficulty of obtaining amber and, difficulty of carving, and material cost.  Pricing is subjective.  There is nothing with which to compare.  I was always in the wholesale business (3rd generation, 46 years) and have priced accordingly.  Price is based upon cost per piece, the super-fine heshe and uniqueness.

   Ronnie passed away in the early 90s.  He was only in his 30s.  I believe this is the only such fetish necklace that he made.