Posted 10 years ago
Elisabethan
(284 items)
I bought this pendant together with a pair of earrings (see my other post for more photos) for nearly nothing online. I didn´t know what it was, had never seen anything like it, but thought it was very special. When I saw them there was only 3.4 minutes left of the auction so I put in an offer and got them. When they came with the post and I could examine them I started to look for information and found to my surprice that these are morfo butterfly reverse painted jewelry. I paint watercolor myself and by looking at the strokes on these I'm quite sure they are handpainted.
I love nature and felt a bit bad that these were maid of butterfly wings. But I think they are quite beautiful and I would never bye new jewelry like this. I think it´s also important to think about the fact that when these were in fashion people probably had a very different way of looking at nature and enviroment.
At the 1924 Great Empire Exhibition Thomas Mott (these doesn´t have his mark) made this type of jewelry more popular.
I later wrote to the seller who kindly gave me a mindblowing detailed wonderful history of this necklace with names (!) and relations of people who have owned it and when. It first belonged to a Swedish woman born 1902 who at the age of 16 emigrated to America and lived there almost all her life in California. So I wonder if these pieces was made in America? The pendant has a lock marked "sterling" which is very nice, maybe someone has knowledge about it?
And more: I´m sure my pendant and earrings are not from England. . I´m quite sure they are handpainted and even if they are not marked they are very similar to Hoffmans jewelry. They started their business 1938 from what I´ve been able to find out, Old pieces of them date back to that time and range from the typical palm tree and sunset motif to other types. The necklace has a hook and box catch that I´ve found out was used on necklaces around 1920-1930´s. The type of clasp that´s on the earrings was used from about 1909. If the images are inspired by Hawaii it´s interesting to know that they had tourism also before World War II. Acording to information they even had a record year in 1941 with over 30000 visitors. So tourism should not be seen as something "new". I´ll keep this open and research some more. Thanks for all the respons and ideas!
Very neat details in graphics, great looking piece
Beautiful !
Grateful for love and nice coments from kerry10456 and Manikin!
Pops52, Phil and aghcollect lots of thanks!
Valentino97 thank you!
Vetraio50, BelleEpoque and Geo26e thank you!
Gorgeous! Well bought.
Thank you Racer4four! That's lovely to hear :-)
Thanks AmberRose!
N-I-C-E ---!
Thank you blunderbuss2 for coment and 'love'!
Tom61375 thank you!
Thanks Sean!
Your very welcome Elisabethan :)
Toolate2 thanks!
Thanks inky and pawsitrack!!
I love this type of jewelry, when we lived on oahu in the 60's I used to see this type a lot, I always wanted some.
Thanks for love Mikelv85 and southcup! Thankyou deaton1 for input. I'm still looking into this. Have seen the same mount and chain with exactly the same closing clasp on pieces who were said to be from 20's and 30's and on pieces from Hoffman. I don't know what to think but do think you're right about country of origin. Do you remember or recognice any details on the once you saw in the 60's, where they new or vintage then? Do you remeber seeing that clasp on the chain or the same mount on the pendant or earrings? Where could you buy them back then?
Thank you Petey for love!
no, it wasn't vintage, it was in stores, and it was a popular necklace, there were bracelets also, and earrings, I have only seen one of these here in the US since then. It does look like palm trees, but I don't know where it originates. It looks like a painting of palm trees near water with a sunset, probably why it was popular for women back in the 60's
Hello again deaton1. Thank you for taking the time to answering me. Unfortunately my butterfly wing jewelry isn´t marked so I might never know for sure about their age and origin. I´m sure they are not from England. But there are some things that make me reluctant to make up my mind just yet when it comes to the age. I´m quite sure they are handpainted and even if they are not marked they are very similar to Hoffmans jewelry. They started their business 1938 from what I´ve been able to find out, Old pieces of them date back to that time and range from the typical palm tree and sunset motif to other types. The necklace has a hook and box catch that I´ve found out was used on necklaces around 1920-1930´s. The type of clasp that´s on the earrings was used from about 1909. If the images are inspired by Hawaii it´s interesting to know that they had tourism also before World War II. Acording to information they even had a record year in 1941 with over 30000 visitors. So we might be wrong if we think of tourism as something "new". I´ll keep this open and research some more. Thanks for all the respons and ideas!
Thank you moonstonelover21 and amandajane for love!
yes they had a lot of touism before the pearl harbor thing, many rich people came and visited waikiki, they created nice hotels and you look online and find many pictures of of folks visiting in the 30's and it was a big deal to go there back then, people invested in the companies that started and the rich celebrities loved it on waikiki, i think people loved the jewelry because of the look of the beautiful sunsets on oahu, and the palm trees, what i saw in stores, maybe were updated, versions, I just remembered a lot of people had them and i wanted one badly
Thank you deaton1 for you respons! It must have been a nice place to live!
yes, i had my own monkey pod tree that i climbed into, and it is still there 43 yrs later, there is no smell like the smell of a plumeria, or called frangi panni sp?, except for honeysuckle here where i live now
Thanks musikchoo for love and FancyGirl for nice coment!
I understand exactly how you feel, I bought a brooch very similar to this and didn't know I was buying a butterfly wing either, but it is really beautiful
Thanks Jewels! Have you posted your brooch? It's night here and I need to go to sleep put I'll have a Quick look to see if you have posted yours. If not, I'd love to see it on CW!
I haven't even begun to post my jewelry on here! =) I also, sadly, bought a real tortoiseshell brooch by accident! It was in my local thrift shop and I looked at it and it was set in sterling, so I bought it for $7. I found out later what it was and read about the process of this and was sad
Well I understand. But if the brooch is old I think you should try to think that you're not helping such industries now.
Oh yes, so true! Thanks for that =)
Thanks very much PatSea!
Hi Elisabethan, I know this post was from 7 years ago, but in case you can still read comments, here goes.. I have a very, very similar pendant like the one you have. Mine shines when moved in the light, like moonstone. It has the palm trees, the birds, a sunset, and reeds over water. The lower half of the pendant is black. The framing of my pendant is a smooth oval, silvertone. I bought the pendant when I was in my early teens, from a gift shop in Florida. I was visiting my grandparents at the time. All of my grandparents are in Heaven now, and this pendant reminds me of them. All the best to you. - Erica
Thanks Erica for valuable information! When was it that you bought yours? When were you in your early teens? Maybe the chain with my pendant is older and didn't come with the pendant. The chain I have seen in old jewelry catalogs.
I remember having a pendant like this when I went to Expo '67 in Montreal with my parents (I was very little!). I don't know where the pendant was made; I believe my mother bought it for me at Expo itself, but that certainly doesn't mean it was made in Canada! Mine had the same silhouette as yours, which I suppose is standard. At the time I didn't realize it was made out of actual butterfly things, but I did think it was the most beautiful thing in the world. It's long since lost, but I'll never forget how magical it felt when I looked at that. Thank you for the memories :)