Category Archives: pendant

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.

Lang Sterling Vintage Jewellery

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/

Green zebra jasper pendant … or should that be asbestos?

I’d had these two pendants for a while, having bought them in a charity shop for £1.50 each. The big one is unsigned but the smaller enhancer pendant (bottom pic) is stamped for sterling silver and has a maker’s mark – WK for Whitney Kelly.

I was a bit mystified as to the identity of the rather attractive green stone. I managed to find some pics online of something called green zebra jasper, which I learned consisted of green serpentine interspersed with layers of chrysotile. These stones I saw online looked identical to the stones on my pendants. Bingo, I thought. The word “chrysotile” did sound vaguely familiar but having found a name for the stone, I pressed ahead and listed one of them on Etsy with a title that started “Green zebra jasper pendant chrysotile”.

I was taken aback when Etsy took down my listing a day or so later, informing me that chrysotile was a banned substance. So I looked it up and lo and behold, it turns out that chrysotile is a type of asbestos that can cause asbestosis (inflammation and scarring of the lungs), as well as lung cancer.

I honestly don’t know if these pendants pose a real threat to human life or health, but I’m not going to list them anywhere else. However, Etsy does have a ton of listings for green zebra jasper gemstones and beads. Either these sellers know about the chrysotile connection and have omitted the keyword from their titles to avoid getting their listings taken down, or they’re just totally unaware. It’s an interesting one – I would love to know more about green zebra jasper and just how safe (or unsafe) it is.

Silver mask pendant converted from a brooch

Continuing the theme of jewellery conversions, I’ve just made this sterling silver mask pendant:

… out of a brooch that had once been part of an auction lot. The brooch was unwearable because the rollover clasp had lost its rollover part. This wouldn’t necessarily have been a problem, but the pin was also very loose in its moorings – hence the brooch would fall off almost as soon as you put it on. Below is a picture of the pendant from the back, when it was in fact a brooch:

I knew I had to remove the pin and somehow break off the clasp and mooring. I was able to clip them off using a pair of pliers, but this left a couple of jagged stumps which would have been uncomfortable (and unsafe) to wear next to the skin, and the file I normally use for silver testing wasn’t really up to the job. Imagine my joy when last week I found a metal file for 20p in a charity shop. This file (see bottom picture) did a great job of sanding down the stumps, although it did take about half an hour of continuous work to do it. Anyway, I’m sure the file will play a key role in future jewellery mini-projects like this one.

An earring to pendant conversion

A while back I found a round post earring in a charity shop. It was a single earring so therefore not the most easy thing to sell on. Also, I don’t wear earrings so if I wanted to actually wear this, I’d have to convert it to something else. So I hit on the idea of turning it into a pendant, like this:

All I had to do was gently bend the post at the back using a pair of chain nose pliers, to form a bale (see below for pic showing the back of the earring). The great thing about this particular pendant is its hidden bale, which means that the pendant doesn’t hang far below the level of the necklace/chain; you can therefore wear it with high-necked tops without worrying whether it’s going to disappear below your neckline. Winner.

This isn’t the only earring to pendant conversion I’ve done in this way – I will dig out the other one and put it on here some time.

Silver cat pendant made from a brooch

I recently bought a lot of jewellery at auction, which included this sweet little cat brooch:

Sadly, the clasp wasn’t up to the job, and sheared off when I tried gently pulling it into shape. So I filed down the stump where the clasp had been, removed the pin and curled the hinge over so that it could act as a loop for a chain. The resulting pendant is now on sale in my Etsy shop, chain included:

This is my first excursion into selling handmade stuff on Etsy. We’ll see how it goes.

Is this necklace butterscotch amber? No, it’s Bakelite!

I won a box of jewellery bits ‘n’ bobs at my local auction house last weekend. It was mostly a load of broken glass and plastic necklaces, many of which I’ve put aside to donate to the charity shop. But I’m hanging on to these, at least for the time being:

They may form the basis for a craft project or two, or (more likely) I will sell them as a vintage supplies lot in my Etsy shop.

However, here is the main reason for my bid:

At first I thought it was butterscotch amber but the colour was too regular and the surface of the beads was too smooth. So I came to the conclusion that it was Bakelite. I restrung the necklace and replaced the broken clasp, and listed it in my shop.

There were a few things in there besides the beads, namely some cheap earrings and one or two tiny pendants. Including this St Christopher:

…which turned out to be 9 carat gold, and is also now for sale in my shop.

Cameo pendant repurposed from brooch with missing pin


I found this lovely brooch for a pound at the local church jumble sale. I’m guessing it’s continental silver but there are no hallmarks. Sadly, the pin has broken off, leaving two stumps – one being the clasp (itself missing a roller catch) and the other being the hinge where the pin was attached. The original pin would have been riveted/soldered into the hinge and there’s no way that I could have replaced it myself. So I’ve converted the brooch into a pendant, by removing the safety wire and using the loop at the top as a bale. I also cut off the clasp with a pair of pliers, and filed the stump down so that it was smooth. From the front, you would never know that this was once a brooch.

Repurposed pendant made from a Victorian brooch



I bought a job lot of silver bits a while back, one of which was a Victorian brooch with some lovely engraving featuring cannabis-like leaves and a little bird. Unfortunately the pin had come off, leaving the C-clasp behind, plus a rough blob of solder where the pin had joined onto the back. I used a pair of pliers to curl the C-clasp and form a closed loop, and then bent the loop back so that it was near-parallel to the surface of the brooch. Then I added a jump ring. I used the file that had come with my new silver testing kit to smooth off the solder. So here is the result, front and back:

The back looks less than ideal but at least it’s reasonably smooth – and I made a pendant from something that would have ended up lying in a drawer or being sold for scrap.

Bohemian garnet bonanza… with bonus upcycled pendant



I’ve recently started going to my local auction house to find stuff to sell in my shop. So far, I’ve been encouraged by what I have found. One box of mixed jewellery, won several months ago, came up with a couple of silver items, plus some interesting costume bits and pieces along with these:

bohemiangarnetbits2

…and viewed from the back:

bohemiangarnetbits3

One of the pieces was obviously a brooch, with a missing catch and several missing stones. The smaller “clusters” looked to be part of a necklace. There was also a pair of matching earrings not shown in the above pics. More about these in a moment.

I pondered what these luscious blood red stones could possibly be. Clearly the settings were good quality and when intact, the brooch, necklace and earrings would have cost quite a bit of money. There is no hallmark anywhere on the metal but it looks like silver, with a gold wash that has more or less worn off. I put all the pieces in a little plastic bag, placed the bag in my “IDK what on earth do do with this” stash, and forgot about it.

Until one day a couple of weeks ago I was on eBay having a browse, as you do. In an attempt to copy Pinterest, eBay likes to present you with a gallery of items vaguely related to your previous searches, in the hope you’ll be tempted to bid. I normally ignore these items but on this occasion, my eye was caught by a listing for a “Bohemian garnet brooch”. The stones and setting looked exactly like the pieces I’d found at the auction. Further internet searching revealed that yes, Bohemian garnets are real garnets and they come from Bohemia in the Czech Republic, where they’ve been mined for centuries. (More info here: http://www.granat.cz/en/bohemian-garnet.) Further searching led to the discovery that vintage jewellery made with Bohemian garnets commands a fairly decent price. So I was able to sell the earrings for about twice what I paid for the original box of costume jewellery.

I also made this, for myself:

bohemiangarnetnecklace2

Though I say it myself, I think it looks pretty good! I’m now left with the brooch and seven necklace “clusters”. I think I will sell the brooch “for spares or repair”, but I’ll keep the clusters in case I’m inspired to do any more upcycling.

Everything’s coming up yellow Art Deco



Although I don’t actively collect buttons and buckles any more, I still buy them when I come across examples that I really like (assuming that the price is right, of course). A while back, I found half a glass belt buckle. It was this fantastic shade of zingy lemon yellow, with contrasting silver-coated bars. What on earth do you do with half a Deco belt buckle though? Answer: find a suitable chain, and turn it into a necklace. This beauty is on sale in my shop:

yellowdecoglasspendant

It actually makes a rather nice pairing with a ring of a similar vintage:

yellowglassring

The band and setting are made from brass and the ring would have been the cheapest of the cheap when bought new. But it still looks great.