I love investigating the brands of our finds. It’s almost as much as fun as the hunting….almost. It can be relatively straight forward to search clothing brands thanks to the inter webs. However, jewelry tends to be a bit more challenging. I’m an extremely competitive person and love a good challenge – just ask my husband or any of my friends. You want to be on my team.
My business partner and bestie, Helen, spied this bracelet at an Estate Sale. It was part of the most interesting collection of jewels we’ve ever come across – and that’s saying something. We’re dying to know who curated this very specific and inspiring lot, but sadly, like all of our thrifted babies, we’ll never know who gave them up. However, we can learn more about the item by doing some research, and from there we typically create an imaginary character who would have owned such a thing. We often wonder if the Russian princess who originally owned our squirrel cape survived her trek across Siberia…
The investigation process starts with a through cleaning which we’ve demonstrated here. If this process ruins the item (which is rare, but does happen) then it truly was junk. Byeeeeee. Hopefully, the process wipes away years of neglect and restores the original beauty of the item as was the case for this cuff.
Once cleaned, I was able to admire the intricate intertwined grapes, leaves and vines. Then I searched for a jewelry stamp, and after some squinting I spied ‘MMA 1985’. Here’s where google is my bfry. I keyed in ‘MMA jewelry stamp’ and learned that this stands for the Metropolitan Museum of Art. A few more clicks and learned that the MMA sells jewelry primarily inspired by great works of art:
At the intersection of art, artifact, and accoutrement, the Metropolitan Museum’s collection of jewelry dates back thousands of years before the Common Era. Unsurprisingly, there’s no shortage of inspiration for the expansive art jewelry offerings in The Met Store. Watches, necklaces, crosses, bracelets, earrings, pins, rings, cuff links, and more are available in designs inspired from the dawn of recorded history to the present. Available in materials spanning from gold, to pearls, to enamel, to gemstones, and more.
How wonderful is that? You literally wear your favorite art which is what all fashion is anyway – so meta! You can visit the The Met Store online and shop their current selection. An added bonus is that all purchases support the museum and its programs.
So, I wasn’t able to find a specific work of art to tie to this bracelet, but thanks to wikipedia, I learned that it’s an Etrustcan piece. This is the modern name given to a civilization of ancient Italy in the area corresponding roughly to Tuscany, western Umbria, and northern Lazio. Yay learning!
This bracelet is no longer available which is not shocking since it was stamped in 1985. My next step was to do an image search on ‘MMA 1985 bracelet grapes’. It is important to do an image search or you will be clicking through web pages for an eternity. After a couple pages of images, I found MY BRACELET! The image link took me to an eBay posting. Sometimes sellers have all the yummy details and other times nada. Unfortunately this one had nada, but it was interesting to compare pricing. This seller was asking $75 – you know we’ll cut you a way better deal.
So there you have it. I didn’t learn everything I wanted to know, but enough for now. Besides, it’s wine time.
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