Posted 8 years ago
pebble
(31 items)
I picked up this glass bead necklace in a charity shop for £1 the other day. It has lost one full strand of beads at some point, and it's lost something (a cabochon?) from the clasp, but the beads look great quality and I couldn't leave it there for that price! I'm guessing they're Art Deco Peking glass.
They were a bit grubby, the cord is stained and frayed, one strand is missing, the clasp has some traces of silver plating that has worn off as well as missing an ornament, so I think this necklace has been very well loved. When I wiped all the beads with a damp cloth, I could see that they're all slightly irregular shapes, so obviously hand made. They're all in perfect condition, with no chips or scratches.
The shorter of the two strands is 20" long, but that would have been the middle strand originally. The necklace as it is weighs 118g. The clasp has "Made in France" stamped on it. The beads will need re-stringing but as it's missing a strand I might re-string it as two necklaces, or replace the clasp with one suitable for two strands.
The turquoise color is sooooo pretty! I think it might be easier to just replace the clasp, unless the cord is in bad condition. Can't have beads bouncing all over the floor...
:<))))
Thank you - they're even better in daylight, and a bit more green than they look here.
The cord is pretty worn in several places, but I will be perfecting my hand-knotting on lesser beads first though!
Very nice beads and bangle!
Yes, find a convenient clasp for double row, I think it will be glorious again.
Thanks for posting them :-)
Thanks valentino and kyratango for your comments - I've tried to take some better photos in daylight so you can see the speckle detail on the beads but I don't think I have the right light yet. I'm really looking forward to being able to wear them!
Thanks also to Martika, Tassie and racer for the love :)
A string of pearls would make a nice middle row for this necklace (with tiny turquoise separator beads and a faux mabe pearl (oval shape) should not be very hard to find, or do the same with contrasting color glass.
Thanks davyd, so many possibilities for these beads! Restore the 3 strings, re-string as 2 on a new clasp or separate them into two necklaces...I'll need to have a good think about what to do.
Whatever I do with the beads, I'd like to find a stone/glass that fits the clasp, you're right that it shouldn't be difficult to find.
You should post the material/color preference and the exact dimensions of the gem here (be sure to measure inside the setting) and we'll look through our stashes and I'm sure will be able to come up with some options.
Thanks dadyd, that's very thoughtful of you!
The clasp is a squar-ish oval, 16mm long by 11mm wide. I've added a close-up photo.
I guess it was originally green glass so that would probably make the best replacement. Or something pearly, MOP maybe?
If anyone has anything that would fit, give me a shout.
I looked through my stash but the ones I have in the right size are all the wrong color: black, yellow, pink, powder blue.. I'm sure something will turn up one of these days. Keep your eyes open for single earrings that may have the right size cabochons you can harvest and like you said, glass, not plastic, or MOP.
Thank you for looking, that's very kind of you!
I discovered a stash of likely cabochons in my local bead shop, some turquoise and some MOP that might fit. Good idea to look for ear-rings too though.