Happy Valentine's Day

A Valentine necklace with a vintage rhinestone heart pendant, dark apatite and vermeil, and matching earrings.
The day is named after a Christian martyr Saint Valentine and was established in 496 AD by Pope Gelasius I.
It first became associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished.
                                              Happy Valentine Day to every one!

Limoges Porcelain Pendant Necklaces

Limoges Brooch & Lapis

These three necklaces showcase antique Limoges porcelain brooches. The manufacturing of hard-paste porcelain was established in the city of Limoges, in the center of France, in 1771 after the discovery of local supplies of kaolin. Limoges still maintains today the position it reached in the 19th century of premier manufacturing city of porcelain in France.

Limoges brooch & green moonstone

Limoges brooch & blue Kyanite

Early 20th Century Italian Cameo Necklace

The pendant in this necklace is a shell cameo set in gold-plated silver. It is Italian work from the early 20th century. The portrait of a woman is delicately hand-carved in the shell. This particular one was designed to be worn either as a brooch or a pendant. The beads are faceted rondelles of green garnet.

Ancient and Renaissance Cameos were made from semi-precious gemstones, like agate and onyx or glass. Old cameos are carved with the traditional and difficult method directly out of material with layers or banding in different colors.
The earliest known use of shell cameos was in the 15th and 16th centuries, during the Renaissance. In the 18th century, new shells were imported in Europe and sparked a big increase in the production of shell cameos. They were extremely popular after the mid 19th century.
The shell most used since this period is the bullmouth helmet "cypraecassis rufa" which has a white upper shell layer and an orange-brown lower layer.
The world center for shell cameo carving is Torre del Greco in Italy.

Happy New Year! Bonne Annee!


A vintage French star brooch necklace to start the new year.

Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas, Joyeux Noel to all.
Here is a festive necklace, the brooch is vintage French, the beads red "jade", Austrian crystal and vermeil.

Orange & Green! Happy Halloween!
The beads in this necklace are faceted natural carnelian and the pendant is a Japanese Satsuma button.
Vintage or antique Satsuma buttons are one of the more intricate and beautiful Japanese pottery that you can find and come from the Satsuma region of Kyushu, the Southern island of Japan.
These porcelain or earthenware pottery buttons often features images of plants or flowers native to Japan, some may also have faces or buildings.
They are all decorated and painted by hand by skilled craftsmen, who use an array of vivid colors and gold enamel to make them come to life.
The buttons follow the usual method of manufacture that has made the Satsuma pottery famous and collectible. They are an off-white or creamy color, heavily decorated then covered with a thin translucent glaze which is then deliberately cracked trough over heating to give the hallmark look and design of the pottery.
They were originally worn as a set or 6 buttons on a kimono.

1930's Glass and Rhinestones Brooch

I  found this beautiful and incredibly huge brooch at an antique market in Provence, in the little town of Mane this summer.
It comes with a story, the brooch belonged to the mother of the person I bought it from. It had been a wedding gift given by an uncle who was a jeweler, when she got married in the 1930's. It is unique since it was made especially for her by her uncle.