Featured All the single earrings

LOL AJ

 

evelyb30, excuse my ignorance but what a"wing-back earrings"? Tried o google it and all images seem to show pierced earrings while you indicate that you wear non-pierced. Maybe I miss something....

Haha, true

But overall in our part of the globe objectively historically there is less value in the discarded jewelry due to the fact that 1) we were poorer as society (cannot compare powerful empires with a poor colony of Ottomans like us) and 2) later we had communism which for most of its lifespan denounced jewelry as burgeons residue and thus non-compliant with the new communist's morale. So women (and men equally) were not supposed to wear jewelry or if they did, it had to be "people's", i.e. non precious and not valuable. Gold was not sold freely and it could be found only on the black market, for crazy prices. A few lucky ones had some family gold in the form of Ottoman coins which were exchanged for golden jewelry - you had to give gold in order to receive gold. Which is also crazy as Ottoman coins now are much more valuable as numismatic value than the standard gold jewelry from 1970s, 1980s which has only scrap value. But apart from the black market (which was criminalized) it was the only way for the ordinary people (not high communist nomenclature) to have a golden ring at that time. Sorry for the long post, these are peculiarities some of you might not know.

IMO we all show here the most interesting finds as these are worth sharing and discussing. What is the point to flood the discussions with the countless Czech AB and satin glass necklaces I keep finding?!

 

Even though Bulgaria was a colony of the Ottomans, some stunning jewellery was made. But I expect most of it ended up in museums, or it was scrapped, simply because people needed the money. The sad fate of a lot of traditional jewellery, also here in the Netherlands.

Feast your eyes on these beauties from the Regional Ethnographic Museum in Plovdiv:
https://artsandculture.google.com/story/XQUhA1lKxRkA8A

 

Haha, they must have read the forum

 

Thank you, Any!! Real beauties!

Absolutely! Also there is almost no gold ethnic jewelry, most of it is made of low grade silver (0.500 or even less) called "sachan" which does not decrease its aesthetic value, of course.

You can still find some beautiful ethnic jewelry in online auctions here but it is so rare and sought after, that the prices are too high for my pocket And at the flea markets the competition is fierce.

B.t.w. there are numerous ancient Thracian golden treasures found here but these are something different. For instance:
Panagyurishte Treasure - Wikipedia
Thracian treasure - Wikipedia

 

Bulgarian sellers on international platforms also occasionally sell traditional jewellery, but also for very high prices. Too high for me too, although I have bought and sold Bulgarian jewellery. Mostly filigree crown rings, which came from Dutch collections.

I know, gorgeous!

 

Beautiful jewelry, thank you for the link.

I found a few valuable single earrings. My favorite was a victorian enameled pansy screwback, think it's base metal, set with a small cushion-cut diamond. Go figure.

 

Any, I know you know It has always amazed me the depth and breadth of your knowledge about jewelry from all over the world, and not only jewelry but also historical, social and political context. You are like encyclopaedia, respect!
It was for other participants in the discussion who might not know. Not so important, just to illustrate the situation here, at least partially.

Yes, if something is rare, it is expensive - iron-clad market law. You are lucky if you have BG ethnic jewelry, no matter the source.

Thanks! Although not mine but still made by my ancestors. B.t.w. here treasure hunting is a big business although one can face criminal charges. Rather normal, I would say, with so many ancient artefacts discovered so far.

A Victorian item is valuable on its own no matter the metal, I think. But this is indeed strange, base metal with diamonds. The opposite is more common. Are you sure it is not low carat gold or some other precious metal? Speaking about it, my saphiret brooch is base metal but then, saphiret is glass, although special, and not diamonds. So base metal with glass is not so unusual.

 

This is the kind of discussion I love. Setting an object in the context of history and geography.

 

Could be....no marks.

 

Me too, OBB. Although I am far from your knowledge and experience, I immensely enjoy the exercise. The context very often gives clues that otherwise cannot be known. It is a bit like forensic and every clue is precious as it can lead to solving the case.

 

Wing-backs are costume non-pierced earrings made for a very few years here in the USA. They were all costume. The "wing" sat inside the ear and another piece of metal went around the back. Only a few companies made them. For whatever reason the design never became popular. They're unusual here in the USA, and probably almost impossible to find anywhere else except Canada.

I tried to link an image but got an image in Preview and a Red Box when I posted. So....:

https://madgeshatbox.com/the-story-of-judith-mccann-wingback-earrings/

 

Thank you, evelyb30, for the thorough explanation! Never have heard of this type of earring attachment to the ear, very educational!

 

No reason you would have. They never became popular and I doubt few were sold in Europe.

 

Kind of like ear braces.

I have never seen them here.

 

Really nasty clips are closer to ear braces, except that they're harder to break!

 

When I got married in 1967 we each got one pierced ear and wore one each of a pair of gold hoops. I was such a hippie.