Featured Brass and glass bead necklace, info please.

This necklace hitched a ride with some ethnic jewellery, but it is fashion jewellery.
No marks anywhere, just a lot of grime. Is it worth cleaning it in soapy water and fixing the 'repairs'?
Pretty glass beads, any idea of the origin? And period, 1960s - 70s?







Thank you for looking.

 

the rectangular bit looks like it could have been part of a peranakan belt

 

Maybe I should start collecting these, and make them into a belt.

 

Just looking at pictures, before I read your remarks, I was thinking 1960s.
That's about the time I first noticed this type of glass bead. So I wouldn't place it any earlier than that. Although I think the screw clasp came a little later. It could even be current costume. Not much help sorry.

Yes, I would clean it. I'm a firm believer in washing everything that is washable. You just don't know where it's been.

 

Thanks cluttered, I don't like anyone else's grime either. What I really mean is if it is worth it, or should I just give it away. I wouldn't wear it, but if it is worth taking the effort of cleaning, repairing, listing, I could do that. Otherwise I won't bother.

 

Does it have high monetary value? Probably not.
Is it a style ladies are wearing? Yes and lavender is a popular color.

Easy to clean. If you don't mind ammonia.
Drop it in a small container, squirt it with 50-50 ammonia and water, add a drop of dawn dish washing detergent, (or similar), add just enough water to cover, swish it around for a minute or two. This piece you could actually let sit for a moment, nothing to get harmed by the ammonia.
Rinse well and lay out to dry.
This is not a method to be used with pearls, opals or other soft stones, as I'm sure you are aware.

A good pair of round nosed pliers will fix the links in just a few minutes.

 

So I guess no Czech glass, Murano glass.

 

I don't really know. I would suspect Italian over Czech
@Lucille.b
@evelyb30

 

Would love to see it cleaned, AJ!!!!!

 

The screw clasp has been around for a long time, long before the 60s. Whether this particular model was, I don't know.

 

Gotta say, to my eye, it looks like 1920s-30s Czech, a designer's version of an ethnic design - those are almost certainly Czech stamped brass filigree findings, the decoratively stamped flat links of the chain also seem Czech, and the striated pattern of the glass wouldn't be uncommon for Czech beads, though the baroque shape less common, even the barrel clasp appears to have some age. Suppose it could have been made elsewhere, Bohemian/Czech findings and beads were heavily exported, but I'd still guess Czech. Personally, this is one of those cases where I'd leave the finish as is...

~Cheryl

 

Thanks Cheryl, that sounds interesting and worth cleaning it up a bit and fixing the links. I did find those brass decorations on Czech jewellery of the 30s.
I agree, I wouldn't take off the finish, just the grime on the back. A bit of alcohol could probably do that without damaging the finish.

 

It has just entered stage one, a short soak in soapy water.

 

I like it the way it is, but I'm getting a vibe of a repurposed piece.

 

It may not be as old as all that. They were making similar pieces in the San Francisco area in the 1990s. It's hard to tell from the beads.

 

Just a thought,but I always find necklaces that are older to be so tiny I always wondered if that'd be a way to sorta date them? Did women have tiny necks then or what ?

 

It has had a bath now, and the squiggly designs on the links are now more visible, maybe they are a clue. In fine jewellery that often means first half of the 20th century or older. Not that this is older, of course.
Anyway, I'll take a picture tomorrow.

 

Ammonia: anyone know why it isn't in the supermarkets anymore?

 

Hi,
It's in all of mine around here. Did you have a California Moment and bann it?
greg

 

My jewelry and bead books are packed away, but a couple were in a box of silver books I brought here, and one was Jargstorf's 'Baubles, Buttons and Beads: The Heritage of Bohemia' (1997). Don't really recall seeing a piece quite like this, but did find the 1920s necklace in the first pic, really only similar in that it has decorative elements attached to flat plates. The second pic is a Neiger Asian motif necklace, from the same era, with a similar chain and barrel.





~Cheryl