Featured Chatelaine chain/necklace conversion?

Discussion in 'Jewelry' started by stracci, May 24, 2020.

  1. stracci

    stracci Well-Known Member

    I found this necklace at a thrift store for a few dollars. I had a hunch it was antique. The jump rings are soldered, which was a good sign to me.
    It doesn't test gold, silver or platinum.
    Later, I saw some cut steel chatelaines in a local antique store and the links were so similar.

    It is 16" long with an old style brass spring ring clasp attached. Some of the chatelaines I saw had chains about this long.
    Does anyone think it may have been part of a chatelaine in a former life?
    [​IMG]
    IMG_20200524_094550.jpg

    This one from a Skinner auction says it is 20 inches long.
    The links are so similar to my necklace.
    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: May 24, 2020
  2. Aquitaine

    Aquitaine Is What It IS! But NEVER BORED!

    NICE!! I love all the little "whatchamacallits" on the Skinner one!!!!!!!:):happy::joyful: Doesn't look like anything's missing either!! But I digress....YOUR necklace looks nice as well, but I cannot answer your question, sadly!
     
  3. Bronwen

    Bronwen Well-Known Member

    I think it's not an unreasonable conjecture. It's fairly short as a necklace & clasp parts certainly don't look original to it.

    Wanted to ask re: your avatar. Do I remember correctly that the ermine indicates the lady is pregnant?
     
  4. stracci

    stracci Well-Known Member

    You could be right. Here is a link about the painting and the symbolism involved. Interesting! I, myself, am far too old to be pregnant!!! LOLOLOL
    https://www.timeout.com/london/art/decoding-da-vinci-the-lady-with-an-ermine
     
  5. Bronwen

    Bronwen Well-Known Member

    Interesting. My guess is that Leonardo could have had all the allusions in mind when he made the artistic choice to depict her with an ermine, although find it a little bit of a stretch to think he knew the Greek for weasel. Nothing much was impossible with that guy so...? If her lover had 'The Ermine' as a nickname, could have been a bit of a teasing jab to show this one as tame, under the control of a woman.
     
  6. kyratango

    kyratango Bug jewellery addiction!

    Very interesting! Thanks for posting:)
    I agree with Bronwen, your chain is very similar to the Skiner's one and you may be right it was altered into a simple chain.
    For your assertion of being far too old for being pregnant... I read somewhere than a very old Indian woman was found to be pregnant of a never born "fossilized" foetus:nailbiting::p;)
     
  7. stracci

    stracci Well-Known Member

    Creepy! But intriguing at the same time............:wideyed:
     
    scoutshouse, kyratango and Bronwen like this.
  8. Bronwen

    Bronwen Well-Known Member

    My favorite line from the site about the painting:

    Cecilia’s string of ostentatiously modest black beads is probably costly jet, worn to set off her pale skin. [emphasis mine]
     
  9. stracci

    stracci Well-Known Member

    Well, there's your oxymoron for the day!
     
  10. Bronwen

    Bronwen Well-Known Member

    I keep wishing the moronic ox would go away.
     
  11. Aquitaine

    Aquitaine Is What It IS! But NEVER BORED!

    It's fascinating the stories/facts you keep digging up, @Bronwen!!! And amazing the inferences the paintings of old seem to include!!! Glad I read it!!!

    "It may have been included for a number of reasons, because in addition to being a pun on Cecilia’s surname, the ermine was also a well-known symbol of purity and moderation at the time and, according to popular belief, an animal that protected pregnant women (in 1489/90, Cecilia was pregnant by her lover, Ludovico Sforza)."

    Plus I never knew what looks like a little lamb was called an 'ermine'!!
     
    kyratango and Bronwen like this.
  12. Bronwen

    Bronwen Well-Known Member

    Renaissance painters didn't include anything that didn't have a meaning, every flower, bird, animal. They're only ermine in the winter when they're white; the rest of the year they're weasels. The fur was highly valued.

    The royal mantle of Serbia:

    [​IMG]

    The black bits are the tips of the tails.
     
  13. Aquitaine

    Aquitaine Is What It IS! But NEVER BORED!

    OMG....ALL THE LITTLE WEASELS THAT HAD TO DIIIIIIE!!!!!!
     
    kyratango, Xristina and Bronwen like this.
  14. stracci

    stracci Well-Known Member

    I know! That really sucks.
     
    kyratango, Xristina and Bronwen like this.
  15. Bronwen

    Bronwen Well-Known Member

    Have you ever seen the size of a live mink relative to the size of a full length mink coat? Same thing, maybe worse.
     
  16. kyratango

    kyratango Bug jewellery addiction!

    And moles fur coats that were the rage in beginning of 20th century...:facepalm::nailbiting:
     
    stracci and Bronwen like this.
Draft saved Draft deleted
Similar Threads: Chatelaine chain/necklace
Forum Title Date
Jewelry Would Victorian chatelaine style necklace work for the title on this? May 31, 2023
Jewelry Three more auction goodies, glass necklace, tiny ring and chatelaine chain? Mar 9, 2023
Jewelry Age of Chatelaine Nov 18, 2022
Jewelry Chatelaine. Sep 5, 2021
Jewelry Chatelaine in silver Feb 21, 2021

Share This Page