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Any help would be so appreciated, even if it is pointing me in the right direction to get some help with it. Thanks!!

Linda

I could be way out in left field - looks like they might be chatelaine jewelry. Adornments for the implements suspended on chains and used in daily tasks until falling out of favor in the early 20th.Century... when women began working outside the home.

Thanks, duluthinbloomz4. I have never heard of that. I will see what I can find. I wonder if any of the 'stones' are real. I think it is too early to be plastic imitations.

They look like very ornate old silver with semi-precious stone buttons that were made into a necklace. I'd take them to a jeweler and have them put back on that chain and wear it around my neck with a big smile.

-Babka

@ duluthinbloomz4 Hmmm I don't know what to think. I just looked at a couple dozen chatelaine jewelry pictures. The 'charms' all seem to be recognizable objects. Did not see anything where each 'charm' is such a hodgepodge of little items. I am going to look into it further, though. Thanks!

@ Babka I just may end up doing that. :-) First I'd like to try to discover what they were originally and perhaps have them restored back to it. I don't think they are silver. The color is most definitely a brass/gold color, not silver or tarnished silver. Thanks for your input, I do like your idea!!

Where was she from? Are there any marks on the clasp of the chain (or anywhere else)?

They're very interesting!

@ fori It's a shame but I do not know where she was originally from. The earliest I know of her is when she was a young woman married to my great grandfather and they resided on the Eastern Shore of Maryland (the area of the state between the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean). I know my grandfather lived there when he was a young boy. I wish I knew more and unfortunately there is no one left to ask.

Ok, back to the jewelry. There are no markings on any of it, including the chains. Something interesting that I noticed...the two pieces in the picture below are the only two that have the little loops soldered to them to allow for a chain. However they all have the holes around the side where a chain could be slipped through. Also, on the piece that has the main chain attached, if you notice, the secondary loop is soldered at a 3 o'clock position from the top with a short chain running to the other piece with the soldered loop. I find it interesting that the solder was at the 3 position instead at the bottom (6 o'clock position) so something would hang nicely from the bottom. There is absolutely no marks where perhaps a soldered loop may have broken off anywhere else around the side of that piece. None of the other pieces, other than these two have any soldered loops or any evidence that they ever did. There are 8 pieces with 15 of the little hollow balls, which makes me think that perhaps a chain had been run through them alternating between the charms and the balls....maybe. All speculation. Laughing at myself now, about going on and on about these. I hope I haven't bored anyone to tears. :-) I still really want to discover what these were originally. Perhaps someone will still jump in here with the answer.
Thanks!

Chibimimi, You are right!!!! Oh my goodness, That is it!! Thank you so, so much. I am so excited. lol

Chibimimi, I found these online. No doubt, you are right.

Here is a link that might be useful: Victorian slide bracelets

I hope you can rebuild it now that you know what it should be. The strange critters on it really do add to the appeal. What is on the yellow colored stone?

Have you considered using Ancestry.com to find out more about your grandmother? It would be helpful if you knew her maiden name, but you might luck out even without it. I have found out some amazing things about my own ancestors--it's really easy to use.

@ WMA89...I do know her maiden name and my mother said her dad's family was from England. I had forgotten that until just this evening as I was talking about the bracelet and her. So it all seems to make sense. The description of the bracelets said they were popular in England in the 1800's. Seems to all fit.

@ fori, yes I would love to get it rebuilt. I am still chuckling at myself over how exicted I got when Chibimimi came up with the correct answer. lol Now as to the yellow stone. My husband and I have both been trying to figure out what the design is on it. Neither of us knows. It could just be an abstract design. Here are a couple close up pictures.

another...I notice the color of the metal doesn't come out true in these close ups. It is quite brass/gold toned.

This post was edited by shenue on Tue, Dec 9, 14 at 13:08

The yellow "gem" is carved to represent a scarab beetle. Google scarab bead and you will see some of the same features on ancient and modern scarab beads as on your yellow "gem": the head divided from the body; the two wing cases; the middle body segment between the head and the wing cases (if present, it may be triangular or half-circle); the triangles on the wing cases (not always present -- I don't know exactly what they represent); etc.

I don't know whether any of the other pieces could be said to be Egyptian-inspired or not.

My mother had a slide bracelet, so I recognized the holes in the sides of the pieces as soon as I saw them. Hers was nice-looking, well-made costume jewelry with no pretensions to being anything else.

Mid-1960s. I think it was a gift, most likely from her sister or mother. The metal was brass-colored and "antiqued" (in its top layers, anyway); the "gems" were mostly glass, with a "turquoise" half-sphere which was probably good-quality plastic.

The pieces were different shapes: round, oval, 4-leaf-clover, maybe square -- and there were "spacers" (which lacked "gems") between at least some of the pieces, but unlike the beads in the photos above, each of the "spacers" in Mom's bracelet was strung on both chains.

This post was edited by missingtheobvious on Mon, Dec 8, 14 at 21:38

How cool is that!!!! Slide bracelet explains the holes in the bases. Now you do need to take it to a jeweler just to see if those are semi-precious stones or something else. The jeweler could probably tell you what the metal is too.

-Babka

Thank you so much for the information about the yellow 'gem', or whatever it is :-) I'm pretty sure this bracelet had two beads (one on each chain) between each charm. There are 8 charms and 16 beads. I've been looking at some pictures of slider bracelets and like your mother's, most of them have different shaped charms. All 8 of these are round. I don't know that any of these 'gems' are really gems. Probably not the real deals. But I am still excited over finally getting this identified.

Thanks to all of you!!!

I thought it looked a little scaraby, but in the close up it's quite a bit more stylized than I expected. The detailing on those is awfully nice.

And it will match EVERYTHING!!

Hi Babka, that's what I am going to do...take it to a jeweler for evaluation of the stones and metal. I think it is probably at the lower end in value. I don't believe the gems are real, nor the metal is gold. I am just so happy to now know what it is/was, no matter what the materials. :-)

Probably "pinchbeck" metal ... fake gold brassy stuff used in inexpensive jewelry

But it will be a great piece when you get it back together.

lazygardensm I had never heard of pinchbeck. But I looked it up and at first I thought that was correct. Then the more I read... hmmm well not so sure now. One article said over time pinchbeck will tarnish. These pieces have absolutely no tarnish. So now I am not sure. Will get it to a jeweler as soon as I can. However I still don't think the 'gems' are real. But I am far from being an expert and I have never particularly had an interest in jewelry.... until now. ;-D. Linda

Except for the spheres, most of the stone cuts are "cabochons". This collection is typical of what a lapidary hobbyist might assemble. He/she would shape and polish the stones and then mount those in commercial findings. To do that, the stones are ground to standard sizes.

The medium green, rectangular stone with 2 small spherical side stones. Carefully look at these two small spherical stones. Those appear to be opals. If these are opals, treat them with care. Opals are soft, but highly desirable due to their exquisite iridescent color. Read up on the care of opals because these can 'dry out' and become brittle. However, the better opals are stable. Opals thrive on oil absorbed from the wearer's skin.

The purple rectangular stone may be amethyst. A couple of other pieces may also be amethyst. Amethyst can vary widely in color.

The very dark, red-purple may be garnet. Garnet is much harder than glass and is considered a durable stone. Glass easily scratches and dulls whereas garnet will hold its polish.

There are 2 small spherical, translucent pink stones. These could be in the corundum family; Pink to red ones are called rubies. Conundrums are very hard and durable.

There is a pale red/pink oval cabochon and it is translucent. I'd call this one carnelian. Again, glass and carnelian can be differentiated by hardness. Glass has Mohs harness of 5 whereas carnelian is 7.

The findings with a loop on each end were probably intended to be chained/linked to form a bracelet or necklace. The findings with a single loop were made to hang from a bracelet (think charm bracelet) or from a necklace chain.

On a hunch, these could have been birthstones. A mother would have worn a birthstone for each of her children and herself. Below is a list of birthstones. Note that a month may be represented by more than one stone. This came about due to preference changes in different time periods, but one strong driver was cost. Not every one could afford or wish to wear expensive stones for all occasions, thereby other stones were selected as stand-ins.

Amethyst was considered a common stone in the 1950s, but in recent years, the supply of gem quality amethyst has dwindled and its price has escalated accordingly.

January
Garnet

February
Amethyst

March
Aquamarine

April
Diamond

May
Emerald

June
Pearl
Alexandrite

July
Ruby

August
Peridot

September
Sapphire

October
Tourmaline
Opal

November
Topaz
Citrine

December
Tanzanite
Zircon
Turquoise
- See more at: http://www.americangemsociety.org/birthstones#sthash.N5U7f0l1.dpuf

Wow jemdandy, lots of great info. Thank you!!!

Definitely from a slide bracelet, added one at a time for different occasions. The are very expensive.

In post the 1960's or so it was popular for people to take no longer used watch chain slides, collect enough for a bracelet and have them strung on double chains ( as they would have been on the antique watch chain.....the slides were used to regulate the length of the chain). Watch slides were often gold...or at least gold filled, containing pearls and precious gems. Since each slide could cost $100 and up and then had to be made into a bracelet, they were expensive little baubles!
Then someone got the idea to make a "slide bracelet" from faux and new slides. They lacked the refinement of the antique slides but were cute.
What you have in the newer version from say the 60's....it's costume jewelry, meaning not real gold nor real gems....but it's attractive, and worth having pt together....of it's not too much $. The holes were where the chain went and the loops on the sides of the 2 slides were for a safety chain.

Love this thread. Congratulations!