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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Any Jewelry, post: 416537, member: 2844&quot;]Welcome, NFLgirl. Gorgeous necklace.</p><p>It certainly looks Middle Eastern, and could be Yemenite made. Yemenite is the term for Israelis whose ancestors lived in Yemen for hundreds, even thousands of years.</p><p>But as Holly pointed out, it could have been made in various countries. The technique of making filigree was introduced in the region centuries ago by Armenian silversmiths.</p><p><br /></p><p>The Bawsani family are famous Yemeni Jewish silversmiths who adopted the filgree technique in the late 19th century.</p><p>This &#039;Solomon and Sheba Gates&#039; pendant is in the Yemeni Bawsani style. My apologies for the quality, I&#039;ll see if I can take a better photo later on:</p><p>[ATTACH=full]145270[/ATTACH]</p><p>As you can see (I hope), it is filigree decorated with lozenges, discs, and flower shapes.</p><p><br /></p><p>Yemeni Jewish silversmiths began to settle in Palestine just before 1900, because of the tourist boom.</p><p>Your necklace was made later, I think mid 20th century. It is not in the specific Bawsani style, and it is impossible to say who made it. My guess is it is not Yemenite, maybe Palestinian, Syrian, that general feel. A silver fineness of ca 800 is not unusual in the region.</p><p>It is a beautiful necklace, whoever made it, wonderful to see and to wear.</p><p><br /></p><p>Most Bawsanis have left Yemen for Israel, but the style was continued by people who worked for them. In recent years thare has been a revival of Yemeni silversmithing, largely inspired by the work of the Jewish Bedihi and Bawsani families.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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