Charity shop buy. Might be silver, the poorly soldered areas are magnetic but the rest isn’t. Can’t decide if it’s older and cobbled together with modern rings. The extra small ring is odd, I really don’t think it’s for a safety chain. Seems to have been worn quite a bit looking at the thinner worn areas on the fastening. 8 ins long. Any thoughts please? Thanks. It actually looks quite nice when worn if you ignore the solder!
It looks older to me. Rose jewellery became very popular in the 1910s, especially in Germany. This one could be 1920s though. Maybe it originally sat on one end, and held the clasp? Someone fiddled around with it, but it is still cute.
Thank you AJ. It certainly has been fiddled with I would suppose it would be described as having open panels. I wonder if it needed to be extended by adding the large rings. 8 inches long is bigger than I would expect in an older bracelet.
I get a Victorian bookchain vibe from it and the bolt ring as clasp looks like the part of the extender used to hang a locket. https://www.stolenattic.com/fr/products/antique-victorian-silver-book-chain-necklace-star-links View attachment upload_2024-6-16_18-25-3.jpeg
Thank Kyra I do see the resemblance. It works quite well as a bracelet, I probably would have accepted it as an original bracelet if the soldering hadn’t been so bad.
All I know is the clasp didn't start life like that. The clasp itself looks like an old spring ring, but to operate it loose like that you'd need a husband or a maid helping you.
An option worth looking into. Not bookchain links per sé, but with those big rings it could have been something like it.
Technically not book chain, because book chain links are shaped like books. But it looks like the function is the same as book chains.
"each link is a rectangular folded piece of metal resembling a book" https://www.josephjewelry.com/guide/glossary/book+chain https://www.langantiques.com/university/book-chain/ It says here that they were also popular during the Victorian Revival: https://www.1stdibs.com/answers/what-is-a-book-chain/ https://www.lovetoknow.com/life/style/book-chain-necklace
Tbh I had never heard of book chain necklaces before. Seems over the years to have developed into a style that went away from the original book shaped metal. This has been well worth the £1 it cost me to learn about it.
I’ve had a look around and see some are referred to as Victorian silver collars with a locket. Good to have found out about it. Thank you to all.
I suppose one might have to rely on the husband when the maid is at the far end of the West Wing…….. Last I saw of her she was in The Orangery although I did have to chivvy her up to sweep out the Minstrels Gallery….
