Featured cleaned and polished!

dear all

someone told me that hairpins are jewelry too
so here are some hairpins for your comments. they are between 2 1/2" to 4" long. not sure if they are the real deal, as in silver, because a lot of family stuff had to be sold off to survive the war and some were stolen
no mark on all.
no idea what stone was on the "naked" crab.

regards
phaik hooi

 

Hi Phaik,
They are beautiful.!!!!!!
greg

 

Phaik, you lucky girl, they are gorgeous.
It would be good to have them tested for silver.
Have you done the tooth test on the pearls? Rub them gently against your teeth, if it feels gritty, they are real.
The pearls on the phoenix and on the peonies look real, and natural. The others could be too.
The stones on the 'dressed crab' look like costume, so maybe her naked sister also had a costume stone.
If the 'naked crab' is silver, it could have had a jade cabochon. I would think a paler green, somewhere between celadon and apple green. Or maybe a Mabe pearl (flat back).

 

So sorry that happened. Parts of Asia suffered so much during that horrendous period.
My husband was born in Indonesia 1942. His family lost everything during the war, even their treasured family kerises.
All my mother-in-law could take with her from Indonesia was a little porcelain bowl which had survived the time in the camps. It broke just after they arrived in the Netherlands. She was in tears, even years later when she told me.

 

Phaik, ALL of your pins are VERY LOVELY!!!!!!!!!

 

WOW!

 

Superb pieces, plus family memories I adore the Phenix bird!
But personnaly I prefer to keep the patina on old pieces, giving them only a gentle polish

 

well, with the high humidity and less than ideal storage facilities at home, i am sure "the patina" will be back in no time at all

 

Very nice! Those are real beauties!

 

They look lovely.
Keep in mind that during the time these were made and worn, no lady would wear or use unpolished silver.

I agree with Any, they look like real pearls.

 

dear all

so happy that you think they are beautiful.
i will try and see if the peranakan museum would like to have them when i get too old to take care of them. until then, i shall enjoy them and think fondly of my great grandmother and grandmother

@Any Jewellery did the teeth test for the pearls but couldn't decide if it felt gritty anyway, they certainly do look like real pearls to me. and you were spot on re: jade cabochon cos i just found the other pair

family stuff are always priceless and when you lose them, it hurts