Posted 6 years ago
Parrotbeak
(39 items)
Bit of an oddity in my collection - I can imagine it to not even be a piece of jewelry at all. The materials are brass (or bronze, and it might have been plated once) and plastic. As shown, the leaves can rotate about 90°, but I'm not convinced that's intential because the leaves have pretty sharp edges and will cause discomfort if not pain when worn as in the second picture. It opens and closes by means of one of those non-locking slide clasps. If it is a bangle, my guess is for 1920s-1930s.
Heh, yeah, that "what else could it be" is a +1 in favor of it being a bracelet. Without a locking mechanism and with those dimensions, I can't think of what else it could be for. But I have never seen a bangle design like this and those sharp leaves do raise questions (I do not think it's wear). Yet, if the leaves were never supposed to rotate, and the tips were meant to rest on the ring, then it would be a safe/comfortable piece to wear. It doesn't look like the leaves were ever attached to the ring, but their base is riveted to it, so time and fiddling may have loosened it.
I don't have any recollection where or when I bought it, but I am quite certain it was with several other pieces of jewelry. Of course, the seller might have been mistaken too, so that's not much to go with.
Thank you both for your thoughts.
@Valentino97: I'd be so amused if it turned out to be that. Still no luck finding anything alike, but I'm keeping that option in mind. Thanks.