Costume Jewelry Piece of the Day

Another White Necklace

Not as nice as the other one. These are plastic and marked "Germany."

Costume Jewelry Piece of the Day
Lots of Clear Rhinestones

Just like I said, lots of clear rhinestones. At first, I thought the necklaces were Coro, but now I doubt it. The clasps are wrong. The bracelet is Coro. The earrings without the pearls need to be repaired. There is some yellowing on the pins.

The necklaces and bracelet are in great condition, though.

Costume Jewelry Piece of the Day

Lots of Bakelite Earrings

These earrings tested positive for Bakelite. They were the result of my "let's smell Bakelite" experiments. It became kind of an obession. I gathered up hundreds of earrings, bought some Simichrome, got some hot water, and smelled away.

Bakelite smells awful.

I tried to be careful when doing the tests. I wouldn't consider any pair of earrings that didn't get a positive response from the Simichrome polish (the pink substance had to turn BRIGHT yellow) and I made sure they all had the same smell and feel to them. There is one exception pictued here. The black disc-shaped earrings do not pass the Simichrome test, but they have the same smell and feel as the dark marbled green pair. Given this, I consider them to PROBABLY be Bakelite.

Costume Jewelry Piece of the Day
Unmarked Set
Tangerine necklace and earring set.

Costume Jewelry Piece of the Day

Green Bead Necklace/Earring




Today I went to mall and looked around. All of the jewelry looked liked Reba Lou's. So I'm not buying any new jewelry.
This is a pretty green "tutti frutti" set. There's no mark on it. It's very well made and I think it may be from the 1960s. Extremely well preserved set.

Costume Jewelry Piece of the Day

Fancy Unmarked Pearl Set

This unmarked set reminds me of something one of the ghosts would wear in The Shining. When I first discovered it, I thought it was a flapper lariat or a curtain tie.

The larger pearls are caged in a glittery material.

Costume Jewelry Piece of the Day

Gold Plate Victorian Bangle (S. F. Company)

When I first found this bangle, it was in bad condition. Several people told me to throw it away. I originally thought the plate was gone completely because of the heavy patina, but the engravings were interesting. Since I'd bought some Simichrome (a German chrome polish) to test pieces for Bakelite, I decided to give the substance a try on the bangle. It cleaned up nicely and is a pretty bracelet.

The bracelet probably belonged to my great-great grandmother, Nancy Annabelle "Nanny" Scates McDaniel. She was born in the American South in the mid-19th century and suffered from one of the Ehlers-Danlos Syndromes, Type II varient. Nanny lost her eye as a child while her brother attempted to rock her in a chair. When he threw her over his shoulder, her eye hit against the point on the rocker, dislocating it. She was blind in her left eye and had poor vision in her right. Nanny grew up and married Asbury Scates, a country vetraniarian and occasional "people doctor." He was a handsome man and, upon seeing him for the first time, Nanny declared: "That's my man, even if I should never get him!"

She got him partly because she ran over and hugged him after he'd been stabbed trying to break up a local barfight. This was the Victorian times, so a gentleman didn't take an action like being hugged by a woman lightly. She lived with him until the day he died, perfectly content.

Those were the "good old days."

The only other things I have that belonged to Nanny are:

• her physical disorder


• a locket


• the glasses she wore when she was an old lady

Here is a picture of Nanny when she was elderly:

http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd99/Razor_M/nannyscates.jpg

Costume Jewelry Piece of the Day

Blue and Clear Lucite Leverback Earrings (Germany)

These are so awesome.

I WISH I HAD A MATCHING NECKLACE!