vintage Navajo silver and turquoise thunderbird Necklace

I don't offer Native American jewelry often but sometimes they just end up in my hands. I am particularly happy for this specific encounter because - if you can believe it - this beauty was headed straight to the melter's!!! I think she is worth much much more than that so here she is, in all her ... thundering gorgeousness. Navajo, I think, most probably from the 1970s, sterling silver and turquoise chip inlay with hand-wrought beads strung on sterling wire, a series of thunderbirds along the chain on either side and a glorious big bird at the center, naja-style. The necklace is signed yet my admittedly cursory search has not allowed me to identify the maker...

Size / Weight: 27" long; naja-bird is 3" tall by 2 3/4" wide; link birds are 2" by 3/4"; 195 grams (on a postal scale)

Hallmarks / Date: maker's initials "PB" as shown; not hallmarked for metal content yet tested and guaranteed to be sterling silver; 1970s

Condition: excellent vintage with stunning presence, carefully hand-wrought, with all its inlay in great shape, having fantastic patina and no damage or repairs noted except for a small dent in one of the beads

Inv# 15965