Posted 5 years ago
aesthete1880
(29 items)
We have been collecting these fun paperweight brooches for a while, picking them up here and there. Courtenayantiques had a great post on their history, indicating some of these were produced in Bohemia in the early 20th century (see link in comments).
This particular posting features three different versions of these brooches. The first one has three goldfish swimming amidst aquatic plants and air bubbles. The metal surrounds have inset multicolored glass brilliants and a small metal chain that connects the two parts of the brooch. The second brooch has a large sailing vessel in the high seas, back-lit with an intense magenta sky. The last one has two sailing boats silhouetted against blue sky, black mountains, and blue water in a placid tropical setting. The fish one is back with mother-of-pearl; the big ship seems to be backed with a textured foil, though we are not sure about this; and the sailing boats one appears to be backed with actual butterfly wings, and the boats and birds seem to be handpainted. This last one is also marked Sterling and England. We posted another group of these types of brooches, so please look for them.
The link to Courtenayantiques posting is here: https://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/252162-bohemian-brooch-intaglio-on-mother-of-pe
For more examples of paperweight brooches, see: https://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/272438-butterfly-flowers-and-cherries-paperw?in=user
The sailing ship is wonderful!
I think the sky color is demonstrating this weather warning rhyme that sailors pay attention to:
“Red sky at night, sailors’ delight,
Red sky at morning, sailors’ warning”
Watchsearcher, I bet you are right. If only we knew whether it is night or morning. The sea looks pretty choppy and the ship is leaning hard!
Lol! I looked for some sign to tell me if it’s morning or evening also. I agree with your assessment of waves and ship’s angle...and all the sails are full.....must be morning!
Morning it is...batten down the hatches!
Lol! I agree! I was in Hurricane Iniki in Hawaii in the early 90s and, a few years later, in a storm at sea for for about 3 days/nights enroute from Bahamas to Panama Canal...horrible ordeal....should have been watching for the red sky!!
Watchsearcher, wow that sounds incredible!
My life seems so sedate now in comparison to those years. I consider those my “adventure years”.