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Comments

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  Ethnic Embellishments November 25, 2014 at 12:46am

  Yes, a nice find!  I saw this one :-)
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  Lynn Ardent November 25, 2014 at 12:51am

  Thank you Hillary!

  Here is a photo of how the chains drape, could also be an ornament worn across the front of the breast. 

  
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  Peter Hoesli November 25, 2014 at 3:46pm

  Dear Lynn; Lovely indeed! I too, believe that this is rather a chest ornament - a gorgeous one to say the least! Congratulations.
  Peter
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  Lynn Ardent November 25, 2014 at 4:43pm

  Thank you Peter, I suspected you would like it.  :) 
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  Betty November 25, 2014 at 6:02pm

  Very attractive as a necklace! Great find.
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  Thelma November 30, 2014 at 12:20pm

  This is gorgeous Lynn. Those filigree flowers on the central plate always remind me of the work of the Jewish silversmiths in Yemen and elsewhere. I wonder if this piece was imported. It looks as if it has a slightly different origin from the birds.
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  Lynn Ardent November 30, 2014 at 9:43pm

  Thank you for your comment Thelma.  I agree the central plate had to be made by a different person than the bird ends.  The bird ends are gilt copper and the work is not fine, but the central plate is gilt silver and the back is even more beautiful than the front, it has gorgeous filigree under the rosettes.  It does appear to be of Balkan origin to me, but definitely different makers, one quite skilled.  I was recently reading about the guild system under Ottoman rule and apparently there well-defined rules for coppersmith vs. goldsmith (silversmith) and this system existed in Bulgaria until the revolution.  So the birds may have been made by a coppersmith, and the plate by a goldsmith.
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  Thelma December 1, 2014 at 10:54am

  Yes, it is almost as if the rest of the necklace is a setting for the precious central plate.