Featured Stanhope & carved wood bead necklace

these are the last two of my auction wins, charlie prices

the stanhope shows a picture of christ on the cross, quite disturbing image actually, bone i presume

the beads im never sure if these types are chinese or not, but i like them

i think restrung

presuming they were stained rather than being a bog oak or such

but think have some age, and a nice look

any thoughts or info appreciated

 

We had an identical stanhope in our family. I always thought it was German. And yes, bone.

Debora

 

Great finds charlie.
The dark beads were probably made as rosary beads, but they work as a necklace.

I usually see them listed by French sellers, so I assumed French. Maybe @kyratango knows?

 

That's interesting. I welcome more informed opinions than mine.

Debora

 

Both countries exported a lot, as did other countries. Hopefully kyra can tell us.

 

Thanks Aj

 

The bone rosary is an oldie, from the era when stanhopes were a hot commodity. The other ones are ringing bells. Those might be better than advertised. They're Chinese, I do remember that much.

 

Oh, AJ, I don’t know if they are French made, but for sure they were on every flea markets booths here
Those carved circles motifs are very present too on rosary egg shaped boxes!

 

Yes to rosaries on both. I think that carving has meaning. Ccan't recall what though.

 

True. I have one of those egg shaped rosary boxes, coquilla nut. My mother always had potpourri in it.

 

I knew what a stanhope was but this post got me interested in where the word originated. From Wikipedia " Stanhopes or Stanho-scopes are optical devices that enable the viewing of microphotographs without using a microscope. They were invented by René Dagron in 1857. Dagron bypassed the need for an expensive microscope to view the microscopic photographs by attaching the microphotograph at the end of a modified Stanhope lens. He called the devices bijoux photo-microscopiques or microscopic photo-jewelry." But you guys probably already knew that!

 

I looked it up when I first came across the term. Like you, an inquiring mind.
I think it is the sweetest invention.