Featured Is This Brass & Copper Necklace From Finland, Mexico, or ???

I bought this necklace at a thrift store yesterday and am wondering if anyone can tell me anything about it. I collect vintage jewelry and have a few 60's-70's brass, bronze, and copper pieces from both Mexico and Scandinavia. Something about this piece makes me think it might be from Finland -- or could it a student piece? It's not signed, unless the special design on the back of the center drop is the maker's "signature." Two of the long side links are copper with copper wire and two are brass with brass wire. The heavy curved wires and clasp in the back are sort of a very light brass or slightly golden-silver color, and the dangles are also kind of a silvery-brass. Although the construction is not exactly refined, it looks like it took some specialized skill to do the inlay, which appears to be some type of crushed stone.

I would appreciate any information about age, material, and designer/location.

 

not a clue//// but it's kinda funky
a lot of mixed metals..and those spikes make me think student piece.....and the closure..... looks uncomfortable...

 

It's seriously funky. Beyond that... dunno. It could be 80s and it could be last week for all I'd know, but odds are it's late 80s. The style would be a "neck ring" most likely.

 

Seems like it could qualify as brutalist jewelry.

 

i think too much bling for that term....

 

Looks like the crushed stones that Mexico does.
No marks at all? no 925?

 

More in line with Punk jewelry. 1980s sound right.

 

College art student punk, I'd call it, but that doesn't help list it. If it were me, I'd have put blue topaz where those top circles are, but if this is late 80s they might not have been available yet.

 

I've searched everywhere and haven't found any marks. The crushed stones are what made me think possibly Mexican, and now that I've searched online for Mexican spike necklaces, there are quite a few that have spikes of one type or another, so now I'm leaning toward Mexican vs. Scandinavian.

 

My first impression is modern, made in India for sale on feebay, listed as 'Tibetan"

 

I looked at the Tibetan jewelry and the stone inlay and overall designs look quite different to me. Maybe I'll just call it something like an ethnic crushed stone and brass/copper spike/fringe necklace. I also looked at brutalist necklaces that have sold, and it seems a lot of them look more "blingy" than this one. I really appreciate all the ideas and opinions.

 

Just an opinion here... I don't think this is a student piece and I don't think Tibetan. My guess would be artisan. (Or if student, one that was well on their way to making great pieces.) Strikes me that it might be something from a nicer craft show. The extra feature where they did a little inlaid pattern on the back of the center part of the pendant -- just little extra, really no purpose except for the owner. A touch like that you aren't going to see on anything mass produced.

There are some phenomenal craft shows in places like Chicago. Some really unusual items from local artists. I have a good friend who sells glass work at different ones. I could see this at one of the booths.

I would have made a bee-line for this if I had seen it at my thrift.

 

There is no quality to the piece,a high school student or beginning hobbyist could have made it and spent a little time cleaning up the solder joints.

 

With all due respect, I disagree. We are looking at photos that are enlarged several times. I see a small spot of solder that is probably harder to see when not enlarged and not impossible it would be on an artisan piece, although agree it would be nice to have cleaned that up.

Sounds like there are multiple opinions, Joan hope you can sort it out.

 

So I guess it remains a mystery as to who made it and where. The necklace intrigued me because I took a metal jewelry making class at a community college in the 1970s and learned the process of sawing designs out of sheets of brass, bronze and sterling, and soldering pieces together, but I don't think I could have sawed/sawn(?) all the little triangles for the inlaid pieces so precisely as those on this necklace. My instructor would have made sure I cleaned off the solder, though.

I lived in the San Diego area at the time and made a few trips to Tijuana so I have a vague memory of seeing Mexican metal decor and jewelry that combined metals and crushed stones in ways similar to this necklace.....But on the other hand, maybe I'm remembering artisan jewelry I saw at some of the outdoor hippie-type craft shows I used to go to.... or maybe I'm remembering ethnic jewelry I've seen in thrift stores and online in more recent years..... Oh, well, I'll just put it away for a while and decide what to do with it later.

 

@Joan

Did you spend any time with the Gem and Mineral club in San Diego? They had a great shop with everything needed to make most types of jewelry. The short dangles with the inlay are 3 pieces soldered together and the center piece is 5 pieces.The construction is simple overlay and there would be no problem sawing and filing the triangles straight for the inlay.

 

No, I wasn't involved with the Gem and Mineral club, and my jewelry making ended after the class. I think I bought most of my supplies through the school. I still have my saw, files, and leftover sheets of metal, though. Most of the jewelry pieces I made in class were lost wax castings (I melted down other silver and gold jewelry parts and pieces). I wasn't that great with a saw and files. Do you make jewelry?

 

I worked for a fine jewelry designer for a number of years before retiring and make a few pieces when requested from friends. A number of threads here ... https://www.antiquers.com/forums/jewelry.20/page-11 .

I have an interest in relics from the Staffordshire hoard if I can figure out how to make the gold foil designs. https://www.google.com/search?q=sta...1sTgAhVH1oMKHYT_DagQ_AUIDigB&biw=1536&bih=872

 

Now you're talking! If you've worked it out, you will show us, won't you?
I once saw replicas of similar jewellery from either Dutch or German finds, they were beautiful (and expensive), but I can't remember who where when.

 

Thank you for including this link. Now I have a much better appreciation of your opinion on the necklace. Your cat and coyote, lizards, eagles, turtle and other brooches are amazing. I did a circle cutout in sterling of a bird on a tree branch, but my class ended before I could turn it into a piece of jewelry.....now I see how unrefined it is compared to your skillful work. Your compass box is also amazing. What kind of wood is it? After my jewelry class, I took a woodworking class and made a small box out of a chunk of black walnut.