Featured Finds Thread

I like that cut too.....like an onion with layers....

 

The emerald cuts aren't known for brilliancy or "fire" but for clarity. It does look like a mirror it is so clear. I have a diamond ringcollection- many rounds, two hearts, one 3 stone princess cut, one marquis, and now one emerald cut. Looking for an antique cushion cut. Found one last year but it had a chip.

 

Hey guys, does anyone know if Sharonna is okay? I haven't seen any posts from her.

 

Love the ballerinas.

 

Lovely engagement ring!

 

Thanks.

 

Ballerinas are on eBay now...I'm not terribly sanguine about the outcome...

 

Good luck with them, Wendy.

 

Thanks, Pat, I'm going to need all the good luck wishes I can get, LOl!

 

.Good luck.....& best wishes.....!!!

 

No bargain here, but I've been fascinated by this print since I first bumped into it online years ago... so when one showed up for sale, I just bought it. Edward Bright, the Fat Man of Maldon. Engraving, 1751, by Anthony Walker.





Here's some info about the man (also from online):

Edward Bright (1721–1750) was a grocer in Maldon, Essex, England — known as the "fat man of Maldon" — who was reputed at the time of his death in 1750 to be the "fattest man in England". He lived in a house on Maldon's High Street, and is buried in Maldon's Church of All Saints.

Bright weighed 47.5 stone (665 lb or 302 kg).

His coat was said to be large enough to have seven men stand inside it, although this is also sometimes stated as seven hundred men because of a tale in which a man in a local pub (hotel) tempted a gambler with a bet that "seven hundred men" would fit into Edward Bright’s waistcoat. The bet was accepted. The gambler lost, because seven men from the Dengie Hundred (a parcel of land) fitted into the waistcoat.

or if you prefer something more colorful (adult content):

At various times throughout history different methods have been employed to combat the threat of The Dead, and one of the most sinister attempts at control was employment of The Eater.

The Eater would be forced to live on the edge of town, subsisting on naught but the flesh of the dead. At first bodies would be brought to him untouched, but later, as ritualisation and superstition took hold, lavish banquets would be prepared from the corpses and the role of The Eater changed from that of outcast to king (or at least mayor).

The trouble with this method was the increasing population in Essex during the late Middle Ages and early Modern period. As only one Eater could ever be employed, the sheer amount of flesh that had to be consumed led to increasing health problems, and the position began to be phased out.

The last known Essex Eater was Edward Bright (1721-1750), of Maldon, colloquially known as The Fat Man Of Maldon. Inheriting the role from his father, he began Eating at an early age, eventually growing to gargantuan proportions. His girth was so great that it threatened to collapse the town, and in the early months of 1750 the townsfolk lured him into the river Blackwater by placing the dead body of his mother on a mudbank in the middle of the river, apparently at low tide. In his desperate lust for her meat he began clambering across the mud. As he reached the corpse he screamed in triumph, but it was short lived. The men of the town had created a temproary damn across the river further inland, and on seeing him feasting ravenously they broke it open and the rushing waters carried him away.

It is said he lives on at the edges of the ocean, searching beaches for the hulks of dying whales, On finding them, he emerges from the depths and helps them on their way to their final destination.

 

What a horrible thought!

 

WOW- in those times, how did he get so big?

Antique mall mistake this weekend, my faith has been restored- 14k and lavendar jade necklace, $5- heck of a summer!

 

Love that lavendar nicklace. My favorite color is purple.

Moreotherstuff, I know nothing about art at all. I never heard that story till you told it.

 

found two cool oldwine bottles circa 1960 cheapo Calif wine-going to make terrariums for my two 20ish daughters. Plus found chineseenamel and burlwood bowl signed

 

The one on my ring finger is a Zuni-style ring in sterling and turquoise. The other is a somewhat beat up 14k white gold and sapphire (real or synthetic I'm not sure, but it's dark) man's ring. I was going to take it right to the pawn shop but it wouldn't let me. It climbed on my finger and there it sits. $35 for the pair.

 

I am in love with the variation of colors in that turquoise ring.

I think that bowl is great! Those wine bottles will make excellent terrariums. We used to make them in school, it is a lost art today.....

I went to the worst yard sale today that advertised jewelry. I got there an hour after it started,there was a table of jewelry, some in glass cases.

I found a cardboard box and started looking through it- I found an 18k plated Italy bracelet, thick, big. A lady standing there (supposedly a "friend" of the family having the yard sale) starts SCREAMING "Let me see that bracelet! Where did you get it? I didn't see it!" to which I replied, "No, and you were here first, so you should have seen it." Then I am trying to look through the contents of the rest of the cardboard box and a really big pushy lady (another one) starts taking the jewelry away from me. She said "I want to look, too" to which I replied "You can look as soon as I finish" to which the lady who wanted my bracelet said "No, she can look, too." So I got what I wanted and moved on. The lady wouldn't SHUT UP about the bracelet "I had one, I bought it for $20 and sold if for $90!!!!" So I asked the person actually having the yard sale how much the pile I had was. The bracelet lady runs up and yells "She said she would only pay $10 for this bracelet!" which was a total lie, I offered no price. The lady would not stop harping about the bracelet. The yard sale person had to walk away- she gave up.

So I started singing the Frozen "Let it Go" song and handed the pain in the butt lady the bracelet saying "HERE!!!! YOU CAN HAVE THE BRACELET!" Now she is pacified and is giving the store away to me- I was grabbing stuff in the glass cases, sterling, vintage, she didn't care. She got her bracelet. But I know Karma works in mysterious ways......

So this is what I ended up with- total cost of stuff was $19.

Montana blue rhinestone set

Emerald green glass necklace

hand-knotted olivine-colored glass necklace, needs repair

The frog pendant, hoop earrings, and ring are sterling. The single earring is 14k scrap. Freshwater pearls are genuine. The chain is gold-filled, the watch piece will be an anklet.

My favorite, broken pieces of an older brass and glass necklace, thinking of how to restore it

 

Ah well.... So much for the dinner I was about to make....

 

WOW!!!! My favorite color!!!!

 

Love the olivine knotted glass necklace. Looks like circa 1920s Czech to me.