Featured Three supposedly NOS American bracelets. Weird charms.

Picked these up today. Seller said they'd come from the USA, and were NOS, which I'll believe given the condition.

The charms on two of them are just..... strange.

Any thtoughts folks?

 

I love charm bracelets.. nice IMHO.

 

I do too, especially when they've been assembled.

Debora

 

I also (thritto ) like charm bracelets and have run across one or two very similar to the first and third bracelets that you've shown - with some of the very same charms. In hand, I didn't get the 50's 60's vibe as the era some are claiming they were made ... but, I certainly could be wrong.

Online you can find several similar bracelets with the name "Enco" on that fold-over clasp. Unable to dig up any history attached to that Enco name, though.

 

Canasta was introduced in the U.S. in 1949 and was popular in the 1950s. Out of fashion in the 1960s.

Debora

 

Quadritto on the charm bracelet luv! I like the ashtray on the first one!

 

Bear, I had one just like the first one (exact same charms!) when I was a little kid - circa 1960 or so, in the US. I would play with the "movable" charms in church on Sundays. (I'll bet it's still in an old jewelry box around here somewhere.)

 

Looking further, The Antique Jewelry University section on LangAntiques site has an entry for Enco Inc. out of NYC., which was active in the 1950's. Not sure it it is the same though - no examples of the mark they used on the jewelry.
I guess the ones I've come across just weren't worn much or at all because they had no signs of wear.

 

I have three loaded charm bracelets...two were mine and one was a S-i-L's....her daughter didn't want it....and I don't wear ANY of them....my jeweler said dealers will buy them and make pendants out of the charms.....anyone heard that before???

That looks to be quite the heavy gold bracelet, on the first one, @Ownedbybear??

 

I have one charm bracelet with just one charm. It is of my birthday month. I was always afraid to wear it (got it as a teen). Didn't want to lose it.

 

I attached my old charm bracelets to a chain and wore them as a necklace. These were made to be worn as shown. Charm bracelets were a hot item in the 50s/60s and instead of going out and assembling your own charms from wherever you went, these were pre-assembled costume fashion items. Not crazy prices new and I never had any luck reselling them. The charms were always kind of weird/cool.

 

There are a few out there but no one seems to know what some of the charms represent.

 

Hm. So me buying all three for a fiver was pretty decent.

Thanks folks: I really like them and will wear them. The jangle nicely and are mad enough too. Good spot on canasta dating, @Debora .

None of them are that heavy, the one with the sort of shells is the best made, I'd say. I like the links.

I've a bit of a thing for charm bracelets and a worrying habit of buying charms wherever I go....!