Family Hierloom

[zaika]

Hey everyone!
One of my favorite recently acquired items came from my grandmother a few months ago. She gave me a beautiful pearl necklace and this bracelet. My grandfather brought it home after the war. He was stationed in Italy/Northern Africa. I think the bracelet is charming, but my grandmother didn't know much about it.
Has anyone seen anything like this? Any ideas about it's history? It looks like it may have been a souvenier bracelet to commemorate the Allied victory...but I would love to hear if anyone else has seen one like it!

 

[PA Dancer]

I don't know anything about the bracelet, but you have very nice fingernails.

Can you tell what the charms are made of? stone? clay? plastic?

 

[zaika]

wow. thank you re: the comment about my fingernails. no one's ever noticed them before...including me.

well, i'm not sure what the flags are made of...but i assume something like they use in mosaics? the bits are definately not anything like plastic. a friend of mine who has an MA in jewelry (history of), said that the bits are most likely glass.

 

[dhermann1]

I would guess the stones are glass. Very nice bracelet. It's interesting to see the American, British, French and Belgian flag, as well as the Italian flag. That would mean it was made at least after the Italians capitulated in 1943, much more likely it was made shortly after the war, showing all the victorious powers in the war. A very interesting piece of history!

 

[PA Dancer]

After my grandmother died, I have some of her old jewlery.
The one thing I always wondered about was this cross piece.
It's made of metal and had this glass bubble in the center that has sand in it.

 

[Foofoogal]

Exactly what it is called. A micromosaic bracelet. Lovely.
Does it have any marks on it like names? Worth a pretty penny.

 

[zaika]

I would guess the stones are glass. Very nice bracelet. It's interesting to see the American, British, French and Belgian flag, as well as the Italian flag. That would mean it was made at least after the Italians capitulated in 1943, much more likely it was made shortly after the war, showing all the victorious powers in the war. A very interesting piece of history!

Thank you! Okay...I wasn't sure which flag that was. It looked Italian, but the cross in the middle threw me.

 

[zaika]

Exactly what it is called. A micromosaic bracelet. Lovely.
Does it have any marks on it like names? Worth a pretty penny.

Great! Thank you.
No...there aren't any marks or names on it, unfortunately. Which makes me wonder whether or not this thing was mass produced. If it was a special thing...there would be a mark, or something, yes?
Either way...it's quite dear.

 

[Foofoogal]

You may want to check out the antique malls online. Put in micromosaic in the searches. I think this piece would be very desirable.
http://www.rubylane.com
http://www.tias.com
are a few.

 

[euphemiasdoll]

a wild guess

May be trench art, Italians were well known for micro-mosaics.It might have been made from old shell casings by an Italian, to sell to foreign soldiers

 

[zaika]

I just did an online appraisal of this bracelet...while it wasn't as thorough as I had hoped in regards to the history...it was still neat to get an idea of where it might have come from.

Here's what the appraiser had to say (although it looks like she had a monkey writing this...sloppy typing!!!):

History Of The Item: Hello,

Let me begin by saying that this bracelet is not micro-mosaic, but rather mosaic. A micro-mosaic woudl be 1,500-5,000 per quare inch.

Therefore what I believe you have here is a wonderful "souvenir" bracelet from the Great War. It appears t be mounted in godl plate, rather than gold, so I would tend to believe that his bracelet was a product of "mass-manufacture.

As far as mosiic composition, Italy was the leader and I expect that your bracelet was produced in Italy, as a commemorative of the war, and there is no way to determine how many were made or how many there art extant.

Most of the soldiers of the war always wanted to being back some token of love to their wives, but remember that most of them were not wealthy people who coudl affort extravagant gifts. Most of these items were purchased in special shops for the soldiers.

Your bracelet appears to date from the period you claim and should be of great collectr interest given the gret proveance. However, the marketplace is fooded with similar type of WWII memorabilia, so don't set you expectations too high if yorur intention is to sell this wonderful piece of family hisotry.

LOL. I can just imagine my grandfather on his way home, looking in all the souvenir shops for the perfect trinket for my grandmother. Aww...

The price she appraised it at was more than I thought it would be. $300. Wow...I'm never selling it, though, so it doesn't matter all that much.

Anyway...just thought I'd let you know what I found out.

 

[PADDY]

I think it's earlier.

I guess that this is a commemoration of the Great War (WW1). These are all the allied powers from the 1914-1918 Great War (ie: Belgium; France; Great Britain; USA. Just Russia/Eastern Europe missing, which makes me think it is from the end of the war, post Russian Revolution and after the US entry in 1917).
I don't doubt that your grandfather picked it up during 'his war service' (WWII), but that's not to say he didn't get it second hand in Italy and that it is from the Great War (very like embroideries I have seen on cards from the Western Front).

Let's face it, 'we' are buying second hand items aren't we

Any other comments? ( I may be totally off the mark!!).

 

[zaika]

hm....you could be right. there actually is a Russian flag on the bracelet. but, pre-revolutionary. that's odd, though. that they would sell something to commemorate the Great War...thirty some years later?