Charmed Bracelets

Deliciously Chunky Bakelite Mahjong Tile Bracelet

 I'd been eyeing this bakelite mahjong-tile bracelet for months. And then it went on sale!

So I bought it for my collection. I don't know if I will ever wear it, I just like to handle it and look at it. This deep butterscotch shade is by far my favorite bakelite color. 

Maybe I need to put up some shallow shelves in my living room to display my growing collection of vintage jewelry, in particular the bakelite.

Bracelets like this were popular in the 1930s, an era during which bakelite was also used to make dice, poker chips, complete mahjong sets, and other game pieces. Maybe I need to get one of my Japanese friends or family members to teach me to play mahjong! Middle-class ladies used to spend their afternoons that way in the 1930s, if they weren't playing bridge.

Value: about $100 or a little more.

See also: 

Bakelite

Vintage Jewelry: My Collection

Photo: @ Monica Strasen 2010. 

Text: @ Jeanne Sather 2010. 

Toucan in a Persimmon Tree: SOLD

I found this appealing little sterling silver toucan charm on Rubylane a few weeks back, and I bought him without having a clear plan for what I was going to make with him. (This happens a lot, actually.)

 The charm was probably made in the 1940s or 50s, and it is beautifully made, especially the beak, which has three bands of bright color. The dealer who sold it to me said that the beak is enamel, but I think it's bakelite. The charm is valued at $40.

I strung the toucan on a 20-inch sterling silver chain, and he's ready to go.

Then, I was scrolling though my favorite site for vintage beads, and I found the most fantastic red/orange lampwork glass beads that are actually millefiore beads--they are embedded three times each with slices of green glass.

To me, they look exactly like little persimmons, my favorite Japanese fruit.

I wanted to make something different with these beads, so I bought some coral-colored silk beading cord and strung them like you do pearls, with a knot between each bead. I made the necklace choker length, and finished it with vintage ribbons in two shades of green.

This necklace ties at the back of the neck, and can be worn alone or layered with the toucan necklace.

I e-mailed Cynthia to get more history on the orange beads, and she said she found them in an old warehouse full of vintage and antique beads in New York. "Everything there had been in storage for decades, if not for a century," she writes.

Her best guess in that these beads were made in Italy during the 1950s.

After this exchange, I was more in love with the beads than ever, so I bought out the last three or four strands Cynthia had in stock.

In addition to this choker necklace, I'm working on a different design, where the beads hang down from a cord like a cluster of pendants, and I'm also making a double strand bracelet and probably one more choker like the first one.

I'll make a couple pairs of earrings as well.

These will go fast, and once the beads are gone I can't get anymore, so let me know if you are interested: jeanne.sather@gmail.com

The toucan necklace is $120, which includes taxes, postage, and insurance. SOLD

The persimmon necklace is $100, which also includes taxes, postage, and insurance. THIS FIRST ONE IS SOLD, BUT I HAVE MORE BEADS AT HOME AND CAN MAKE ANOTHER ONE. E-mail me: jeanne.sather@gmail.com

 

Photos: @ Monica Strasen 2010.

@ Jeanne Sather 2010.

.