Featured Gold Charm fact check

3 overwintered hives, 1 swarm that last month moved into a swarm trap I had sitting on a table on the patio while I was pondering where I should put it up (and is now the 4th hive), and 3 little hives that are recent splits. We hope to have 8 going into winter.

 

I kept looking at this area wondering what it was


Now I understand.
The end went in the hole. Appears it may have broke off at one time, and maybe why it rattles.

 

Apparently you put it in the right place. Is there some kind of attractant that draws the swarm in? Eau de Reine?

 

Many people use attractants that are similar to queen pheramones. A common one is lemongrass oil. I hadn't used any attractant.

Another thing that seems to help is to put a couple frames of old comb in the trap. They probably like that because the swarm's queen can begin laying eggs almost immediately, without having to wait for new comb to be be made. And old comb is loaded with bee smells. This I had done, and it appears to have worked.

 

Given how wonderful beeswax smells, I'd move in too.

 

That's a very well made little piece. Which suggests older to me.

 

It is gorgeous, and to me it looks right for the period. The eyes could be rubies or maybe spinels.
Spinel was a popular stone at the time, it can be just as red as rubies, and it has very faint to no fluorescence.

And probably about Burmese rubies. Ruby fluorescence is caused by chromium content, but if the rubies contain iron oxide as well, that has a negative effect on the fluorescence. Siam and Sri Lankan rubies, for instance, hardly fluoresce at all.

 

Adorable

 

The family member that has one of the sibling charms sent me some photos. This is the toadstool with a clear, red enamel? ladybug on it, and a hedgehog (or piglet?) inside. This was originally a companion charm to the one shown earlier in this thread. Both of these look larger than they actually are. They're rather small and delicate as evidenced by normal sized fingertip which appears gigantic in an earlier photo here.

 

Rabbit with long ears.

 

Charming charm! I think the critter inside is a boar, a rabbit wouldn't stand this high on his 4 legs

 

Critter doesn't have any hind legs. If you were looking at it head on, think you would see a bunny. The ears are not boar-like.

 

Does your family/the family of the girl have a German background? The lady bug, the fly agaric and the pig/piglet are all a symbol of luck in Germany:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_lucky_symbols

 

Mostly old New England English with some old New York German and Dutch. Their surname is German, but it's distant - arrived in America around 1740.