Posted 5 years ago
highlander56
(82 items)
I was a flapper for Halloween in Grade School. I still have the black plastic faceted beads my Grandmother gave me to wear with the fringe dress she sewed for me. I don’t know why.
I found these the other day at the local thrift store for $4:99. They were black with corrosion. Didn’t know if I could get them cleaned up, but after a painstaking 10 hours...this is as good as it gets. The pictures really do not tell the before and after story. The filigree end caps were black and nearly rusted. They are now cleaned up to the point that one can see they are brass., as is the chain. The beads appear to be glass and no marks indicating they are molded. It is 30” long and easy to wrap 3 times around one’s neck.
As you know, I’m not a bead expert. But this appears to be Czech...maybe from the 20’s? I also read that by the early 30’s the beads on flapper necklaces were getting larger. Any ideas?
Thank you everybody for looking and your input!
Terry
Eileen...thank you! I really punted when buying these, as the filigree was soooo blackened I wasn’t sure it was restorable. But it has been in the upper 90’s outside so this was a good indoor project! The first 2 pics show before, while the last 2 are after. At least one can see they have filigree caps now vs. black blobs! But getting corrosion off filigree is tedious work and was trying to be so careful as to not break anything or damage the beads! Used the Rust and Corrosion Remover/Polish my husband uses on car rims because nothing else was working. LOL. One day that is going to bite me on the backside and something will disintegrate when I do a test spot!