Featured Mystery Necklace

Well, well, well…. Nice find!

 

interesting!!!!

maybe JP should polish one or two..???

 

Don´t know... I don´t smoke

50.10 paperclips with a size of 0.218 pen
But you´re right, I´m not tall. I even avoid wearing pointy hats fearing I end up as an ornament in someones garden

 

I don't wear pointy hats because I'm already enough of a witch some days as it is. My other car is a broom. I do however measure beads in MM - when you make stuff that's how they're sold. Carried over to jewelery selling too.

 

I never imagined my lack of proper size comparison would have been so dramatic

Ok, now that I’m home from work and can check the beads with a micrometer….

(dimensions in mm)
largest is 8x8x18
Smallest is 5x5x9

 

51 total beads

and I was correct the first time around- it’s 32” long

I posted it quick last night, then was trying to research a bit today at work (without the necklace)

A google image search directed me to my original post here that photo looked familiar lol

 

I’m finding very similar “cornerless silver beads” being described as Berber and Afghan. Though, just because a seller makes a claim of origin, doesn’t necessarily make it true.

does Berber or Afghan make sense to anyone here? I know they are not the same, and there’s quite a distance between. So I’d imagine one of the two attributions is incorrect

https://beadsofparadisenyc.com/products/new-afghan-silver-21

https://www.ebay.com/itm/3255220030...gYQCjiLTm6&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

 

The Afghan beads are different, they are more "plump". They are classic spacers from the general region. They are also used as spacers and end beads in the Middle East.
The seller is correct about the origin.

Berber/Amazigh makes sense for your beads. Seeing them in silver made the penny drop. Not that I have seen them before, but they look related to some Mauretanian beads.
I know you said yours are also silver, but they look so brassy that I couldn't make the connection.

 

yes, I believe they are possibly vermeil, leading to the very deceptive patina. Here is a close up of where I tested one of the beads. There are 3 layers visible under 10x loupe (not quite as visible with my phone’s camera).
1. Tarnish
2. Gold
3. Silver

 

When antique silver tarnishes it can get very gold looking in my experience. I have definitely gotten pieces marked as silver that arrived looking like they were gold, or that during the polish process, looked gold as the tarnish came off.

 

Patina doesn't cause a brassy look.
It takes extremely long for vermeil to show that extent of wear. Vermeil is a layer of at least 2.5 micron thick gold on silver.
I am not sure Berber village silversmiths had the equipment (or the need) to make vermeil.

I agree, it can, and I think that is the case here. It just needs to be polished. Regular polishing won't remove the patina, but it wil remove the tarnish.

 

I think you can see some of the "gold" looking tarnish on my chicken brooch, especially in the clasp photos. It had gold and black layers of deep tarnish, like these beads. I used non-toxic Blitz polish and cotton.

 

Agree.

 

Good points. Any guesses on age?

 

My guess is early 20th century. Berber necklaces were often worn daily, so plenty of possibility to accumulate tarnish.
I would clean it. Nothing rigorous, but enough to see that it is silver.

 

Thanks for your input

 

After about 2hrs soak in a very gentle effervescent silver cleaner

 

Yeaaah the really old stuff has tarnish that defies the first gentle steps. I usually have to take some time with the Blitz to convince it to leave.

 

In my hand, it appears 20x better than before, yet the photos still darken it.

I currently have it sitting in a solution of Simichrome paste dissolved in warm water. I’ve never used diluted Simichrome in this manner, but I know Simichrome on a Q-tip with 50+ beads that have 8-10 sides is NOT HAPPENING

 

Several days in diluted Simichrome, followed by a few days in more effervescent cleaner and not much change. It definitely “silvered up” a bit, but not significantly. I don’t think diluted Simichrome had any impact at all, which isn’t surprising since it’s an abrasive polish.

So after a full 7 days I decided to try direct Simichrome polishing with a Q-tip on a few beads. The dark tarnish came off, but the brassy-gold color remains. I scratch tested a polished bead and results are undeniably positive for at least 925 purity.