Category Archives: earrings

Jewellery research – silver dogwood earrings and pendant

I found these lovely mid-century screwback earrings in a charity shop just before Christmas. They’re signed “STERLING” on the back, and there’s also a set of initials (“SB”) in an oval. A couple of minutes’ internet research later, I came up with a company name, namely Silverman Brothers. This company was started by Archibald and Charles Silverman in Providence, Rhode Island in 1897 and depending on where you look online, ceased trading in either the 1950s or 1960s.

There’s also a matching pendant, this time made by a different company – Lang Sterling, which also operated out of Providence. Their hallmark contains the word “STERLING”, where the letter “S” is in the shape of a swan.

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

https://www.costumejewelrycollectors.com/vintage-costume-jewelry-research/costume-jewelry-marks/researching-costume-jewelry-history-companies-and-signatures-10/

Oops. What to do with broken amber earring?

It’s been a while since I’ve posted here – I’ve been busy and my Etsy shop has been doing better than it’s ever done before, so all my efforts have been concentrated there. Now it’s February, and sales have gone down. They always do go down in February. My theory is that the buying public is still spending money in January, because they have an Etsy gift card, or a cash gift from Aunt Jane to use up. Come February, the gift cards are just a memory and people realise that yes, they really do owe that much on their credit card and any discretionary spending is going to have to wait till payday.

This month I had a rare trip to Canterbury to browse the local charity shops. I like going to Canterbury, but its charity shops – while great to browse around – don’t tend to yield that much in the way of affordable shop items. I was however delighted to find these Celtic beauties, made from sterling silver and amber:

On getting them home, I noticed that the clip was misaligned on one of the earrings, so I tried gently bending it to get it in place. Sadly, it snapped right off, leaving a stump. Oops.

I will have to think about what I want to do with the broken earring, because it’s too nice to scrap.