Tag Archive | my Etsy shop Inglenookery

N E From designs, #1: asymmetrical concave discs

The more I study Niels Erik From’s modernist jewellery, the more I like it. I don’t know whether it’s to do with my archaeological career, and the years spent working on finds from various excavations, but I am an inveterate typologiser. I just can’t help it. So I have noticed the variations in the various designs that N E From used in his jewellery.

NE From rose quartz ring, with a larger head at 16 mm diameter. For sale in my Etsy shop, Inglenookery: click on photo for details. Design #1.1.1

Usually he made a suite of jewellery types – rings, brooches, earrings, cufflinks, bracelets, necklaces, pendants – and in a variety of themes all riffing on a basic design, and using a range of different semi-precious stones. Putting my Linnaean hat on, I’m going to start with what I rather clunkily call his asymmetrical concave disc design. It probably has a proper name given to it by From, but I don’t know what that is.

The characteristic features of this design are a dished, concave disc of silver, into which is set, asymmetrically and near the edge of the disc, a cabochon semi precious stone (or sometimes a solid silver cabochon) held in a plain collet. The silver around the collet is oxidised to give a blackish effect, to contrast with the rest of the disc, which is untreated and silvery.

dd

N E From amethyst ring, 15 mm diameter head. NOW SOLD: click on photo for details. Design #1.1.1

il_570xN.702961751_bvoc

N E From black onyx ring, 15 mm diameter head. NOW SOLD: click on photo for details. Design #1.1.1

NE From amazonite ring with a smaller diameter head (13 mm). For sale in my Etsy shop: click on photos for details.  Design #1.1.1

NE From rose quartz and sterling silver ring, this one with a smaller head at 13 mm diameter. For sale in my Etsy shop, Inglenookery: click on photo for details. Design #1.1.1

This basic design is also found in brooches:

il_570xN.383493131_l8jl

N E From solid silver brooch, for sale by decotini on Etsy: click on photo for details. This design is also occasionally seen as a pendant brooch, with an additional small loop attachment on the back to allow it to be worn as a pendant. 45 mm diameter. Design #1.1.2

and earrings:

Niels Eric From modernist rose quartz clip on earrings. For sale in my Etsy shop, Inglenookery: click on photo for details. (NOW SOLD). Design #1.1.3

and cufflinks:

N E From tiger's eye cufflinks.

N E From tiger’s eye cufflinks. For sale at vintagecufflinks.com: click on photo for details. Design #1.1.4

and bracelets:

Capture

N E From blue glass bracelet. For sale at scandinaviansilver.co.uk: click on photo for details. Design #1.1.5

and necklaces:

x

N E From solid silver necklace. Design #1.1.6

and pendants:

Niels Erik From rhodochrosite and sterling silver pendant. Click on photo for details. (NOW SOLD). Design #1.1.7

N E From amethyst pendant. For sale at JohnKelly1880.co.uk: click on photo for details. Diameter 42 mm. Design #

N E From amethyst pendant. For sale at JohnKelly1880.co.uk: click on photo for details. 42 mm diameter. Design #1.1.7Okay, now we’ve got the basics out of the way, let’s start riffing.

Multiple discs in a row:

N E From Baltic amber moderist brooch. For sale in my Etsy shop: click on photo for details.

N E From Baltic amber brooch. NOW SOLD: click on photo for details. Design #1.2.1

Multiple discs in an equal sized trefoil arrangement:

Capture

N E From amethyst brooch. NOW SOLD by VintageJewelsNL on Etsy: click on photo for details. Design #1.2.2

NE From rose quartz pendant.

N E From rose quartz pendant. #1.2.3

Multiple discs in an unequal sized trefoil arrangement:

N E From silver earrings. For sale on Etsy: click photo for details.

N E From silver earrings. For sale on eBay: click photo for details.

Rings of six discs:

x

N E From rose quartz brooch.  For sale at Estate925 at trocadero.com: click on photo for details. Design #1.2.5

N E From amber pendant.

N E From amber pendant. Design #1.2.6

Discs interspersed with open circles:

Niels Erik From rose quartz modernist bracelet with five discs. For sale in my Etsy shop, Inglenookery: click on photo for details. Design #1.3.1

il_570xN.800385126_i9x4

N E From rose quartz bracelet with six discs. NOW SOLD: click on photo for details. Design #1.3.1

N E From rose quartz necklace.

N E From rose quartz necklace. (Possibly a bracelet later converted into a necklace?). Design #1.3.2

Discs with surrounding circles:

N E From rose quartz earrings.

N E From rose quartz earrings. Design #1.4.1

N E From chrysoprase bracelet.

N E From chrysoprase bracelet. Design #1.4.2

N E From amber necklace.

N E From amber necklace. Design #1.4.3

N E From amethyst pendant. NOW SOLD: click on photo for details. Design #1.4.4   

NE From Baltic amber pendant and chain. For sale in my Etsy shop, Inglenookery: click on photo for details. Design #1.4.4 

Discs with surrounding double circles:

62a8d90b2f522ad91279680ad28e26d0

N E From chrysoprase brooch. NOW SOLD by VintageDesignSilver on Etsy: click on photos for details. Design #1.5.1

N E From rose quartz earrings.

N E From rose quartz earrings. NOW SOLD by PatriciaJon on Etsy: click on photo for details. by Design #1.5.2

N E From amber pendant.

N E From amber pendant. Design #1.5.3

Discs with surrounding ovals:

N E From amber bracelet.

N E From amber bracelet. For sale at vintage-jewels.nl: click on photo for details. Design #1.6.1

N E From rose quartz necklace.

N E From rose quartz necklace. Design #1.6.2

I’m sure there are plenty of other variations I haven’t come across yet. It’s fun looking!

Cabochon semi precious stone types I have seen used in the various designs:

Single arrangements:

Design #1.1.1 (ring): amber, amethyst, chrysoprase/green chalcedony, glass (blue), ivory, malachite, onyx (black), rhodochrosite, rose quartz, solid silver, tiger’s eye.

Design #1.1.2 (brooch): amber, chrysoprase/green chalcedony, glass (blue), rose quartz, solid silver.

Design #1.1.3 (earrings): amethyst, chrysoprase/green chalcedony, rose quartz, solid silver.

Design #1.1.4 (cufflinks): amber, rose quartz, tiger’s eye.

Design #1.1.5 (bracelet): chrysoprase/green chalcedony, glass (blue), rose quartz, solid silver.

Design #1.1.6 (necklace): solid silver.

Design #1.1.7 (pendant): amber (small and large), chrysoprase/green chalcedony (large), rhodochrosite (small), rose quartz (small and large).

Multiple arrangements

Design #1.2.1 (row brooch): amber, rose quartz, tiger’s eye.

Design #1.2.2 (equal trefoil brooch): amber, amethyst, rose quartz.

Design #1.2.3 (equal trefoil pendant): rose quartz.

Design #1.2.4 (unequal triple earrings): solid silver.

Design #1.2.5 (ring of six discs brooch): chrysoprase/green chalcedony, rose quartz.

Design #1.2.6 (ring of six discs pendant): amber

Discs interspersed with open circles

Design #1.3.1 (bracelet): amethyst, rose quartz.

Design #1.3.2 (bracelet): rose quartz.

Discs with surrounding circles

Design #1.4.1 (earrings): rose quartz.

Design #1.4.2 (bracelet): chrysoprase/green chalcedony.

Design #1.4.3 (necklace): amber.

Design #1.4.4 (pendant): amethyst, tiger’s eye.

Discs with surrounding double circles

Design #1.5.1 (brooch): amethyst, chrysoprase/green chalcedony.

Design #1.5.2 (earrings): rose quartz.

Design #1.5.3 (pendant): amber.

Discs with surrounding ovals

Design #1.6.1 (bracelet): amber.

Design #1.6.2 (necklace): rose quartz.

The Viking bird pendant from Hattula, Finland

I recently got this fab vintage piece for my Etsy shop, with its goofy face and its jiggly, dangly legs, and tried to find a bit more about it.

ss

The bronze bird pendant necklace by Kalevala Koru, based on a silver Viking bird pendant from Hattula, Finland. For sale in my Etsy shop: click on photo for details. (NOW SOLD).

I knew it was made by the Finnish jewellery firm of Kalevala Koru of Helsinki, one of the largest jewellery firms in Finland, and a further google truffle told me it was designed by Kimmo Virkkunen. I also learned that it was based on a late Viking-era hoard find. My ears pricked up. I love me a hoard.

Here’s the original on which the modern iteration is based:

d

The Viking-era original sheet silver pendant. Note it doesn’t have any legs.

The caption in Finnish on the National Board of Antiquities webpage translates as ‘The bird-shaped pendant in silver is decorated with filigree. The pendant is part of a silver treasure found in Luurila in Hattula’.

A further google truffle tells me that the hoard was found in a field, part of a farm called Luurila in the municipality of Hattula in south-central Finland, near the village of Pelkola. The farm is on the south-west shore of Lake Renkojärvi. It is thought that the hoard was originally buried in a leather bag or some other container that had disintegrated; the ploughing of the field had spread the contents over an area of about 25 m². In 1906, after a few coins and a pendant had been found in the field, the site was excavated by the National Museum, and produced a significant number of finds.

The pendant dates from between 800-1025 AD, and the hoard was buried around 1040 AD. The hoard comprised silver necklets, pendants, and strap mounts, carnelian and glass beads, and 126 silver coins, including Anglo-Saxon ones from England and Byzantine ones with Kufic Arabic. The coins allowed the date of deposition of the hoard to be established to a very close date.

The pendant is made of sheet silver, with a filigree decoration. The bird’s legs are missing, but the suspension loop from which they presumably would have hung survives. The modern version by Kalevala Koru gives the bird the long, webbed feet of a waterfowl. Given the preponderance of lakes and inland waterways in Finland (there are over 55,000 lakes there, according to Wikipedia, which rather knock the 4,000 holes in Blackburn, Lancashire into a cocked hat), and the shape of the bird’s body, this does not seem like an unreasonable interpretation. It reminds me of a coot (Fulica atra) or a moorhen (Gallinula chloropus):

A coot ( Photo by Marcus Rowland.

A coot. Photo by Marcus Rowland.

Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus). Photo by Tony Hisgett.

Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus). Photo by Tony Hisgett.

but as the moorhen doesn’t have webbed feet I guess the Kalevala Koru one at least can’t be that.

Most of the information on the hoard in this post comes from Anglo-Saxon Coins Found in Finland by C.A. Nordman, published in Helsingfors in 1921 and which has been digitised and made available on the web by the University of Illinois as part of its Brittle Books Project. Hurrah for UIUC!

She sells sea shells part 2

I love nature jewellery, inspired by birds or flowers or animals. And it seems appropriate as beach time is on us that I have a lot of shell jewellery at the moment, either made from shells or depicting them. All are for sale in my Etsy shop: click on the photos for details.

Victorian mother of pearl and abalone necklace.

Victorian mother of pearl and abalone necklace. (NOW SOLD).

1 il_570xN.792910276_nj2n

Vintage shell earrings. (NOW SOLD).

Abalone and sterling silver pendant.

Abalone and sterling silver pendant. (NOW SOLD).

Mother of pearl and onyx cufflinks.

Vintage mother of pearl and onyx cufflinks. (NOW SOLD).

Vintage abalone and stainless steel brooch.

1960s abalone and stainless steel brooch. (NOW SOLD).

Vintage Art Deco mother of pearl dress clip.

Art Deco mother of pearl dress clip. (NOW SOLD).

x

Vintage abalone heart pendant. (NOW SOLD).

Vintage 835 Portuguese silver bracelet.

Vintage 835 Portuguese silver bracelet. (NOW SOLD).

Vintage stainless steel and abalone brooch.

1960s stainless steel and abalone brooch. (NOW SOLD).

Vintage Carl M Cohr silver bangle bracelet.

Vintage Danish silver Carl M Cohr bangle bracelet. (NOW SOLD).

Vintage Mexican abalone and silver pendant and chain.

Vintage Mexican abalone and silver pendant and chain. (NOW SOLD).

Vintage modernist black abalone ring.

Vintage modernist black abalone ring. (NOW SOLD).

Antique Arts and Crafts blister pearl brooch.

Antique Arts and Crafts blister pearl brooch.

Vintage seed pearl ring.

Vintage seed pearl ring. (NOW SOLD).

Vintage Arts and Crafts style pendant with pearl dangle.

Vintage Arts and Crafts style pendant with freshwater pearl dangle. (NOW SOLD).

Shelly, pearly, silvery, nacreous loveliness.

Frommery! N E From, eleven not out …

Oooweeee, I listed two new Niels Erik From pieces in my Etsy shop today, bringing my total to eleven. Don’t they look good together?

Niels Erisilver jewellery for sale in my Etsy shop right now. Don't they look good together?k From (N E From)

Niels Erik From (N E From) silver jewellery for sale in my Etsy shop right now. Don’t they look good together? Click on photo for details.

I did an earlier post about him here, with information about his silversmithy, designs and maker’s marks.

Love me some Niels Erik Frommery!

23 June UPDATE: Blimey, I’m not the only one who loves a bit of Niels Erik action – since posting this on 16 June, three of my last six sales have been his pieces. He’s a popular chap, that’s for sure.

1 July UPDATE: Make that four of the last seven sales! I am adding N E From pieces all the time, so do keep looking.

Grapey delights

The other day Chap and I enjoyed a really terrific bottle of red wine, given to us by my Aussie wine loving lovely, wonderful Pa: Peter Lehmann’s The Pastor’s Son Shiraz 2009. Dad is a massive Australian wine fan and regularly gives us great thumping great Aussie shirazes (his favourite grape variety for wine and ours too). All his wines are fantastic, but this one had that extra something.

So. Not that I’m a lush or anything (hic), but I somehow seem to have amassed a collection of grapey jewellery in my Etsy shop.

Here’s a vine leaf ring:

A vintage Danish 830 silver ring by S. Chr. Fogh of Copenhagen, for sale in my Etsy shop. Click on photo for details.

A vintage Danish 830 silver ring by S. Chr. Fogh of Copenhagen, for sale in my Etsy shop. Click on photo for details.

A vine leaves and bunch of grapes brooch:

Baltic amber and sterling silver brooch, for sale in my Etsy shop. Click for details.

Vintage Baltic amber and sterling silver brooch, for sale in my Etsy shop. Click on photo for details. (NOW SOLD).

A bunches of grapes bracelet:

Vintage Danish 830 silver link bracelet by Chr. Veilskov.

Vintage Danish 830 silver link bracelet by Chr. Veilskov. Click on photos for details. (NOW SOLD).

and a French Art Deco brooch with fruit, leaves, and two birds after the crop:

Art Deco silver brooch by H Teguy, France, 1920s, Basque jewellery. For sale in my Etsy shop. Click on photo for details.

Art Deco silver brooch by H Teguy, France, Basque designer, 1920s. For sale in my Etsy shop. Click on photo for details.

(Okay, this last one might be a bunch of berries rather than grapes because the leaves aren’t vine leaves … but it has a grapey vibe that’ll do for me!)

Update. And the viticulture love goes on: a recent(ish) addition to the shop is a pair of blue glass grape earrings:

Grape earrings, for sale in my Etsy shop. Click on photo for details.

Grape earrings, for sale in my Etsy shop. Click on photo for details. (NOW SOLD).

Scandinavian silver

UPDATE May 2017: For Scandinavian silver pieces currently in my Etsy shop, please click here.

I seem to be sourcing more and more pieces of 20th century Scandinavian silver jewellery for my shop. I started off with the idea of stocking early 20th century pieces – English Arts and Crafts, Germanic Jugendstil and Nordic Skønvirke jewellery, but gradually my eye was drawn towards the sleek, minimalist lines of mid century Scandinavian modernist jewellery as well. 

A selection of Scandinavian jewellery. Click on photo for details.

A few of the pieces of Scandinavian jewellery for sale in my Etsy shop. Click on photo to see my current selection of Scandinavian jewellery and silver objects. 

At the moment I have 40 pieces of Scandinavian silver for sale in my Etsy shop, and more to come that I haven’t got round to listing yet!

scandinavian 1

scandinavian 2

Scandinavian 3

Coming up roses

I’ve just realised I seem to have a lot of rose jewellery in my shop at the moment. This is totally unintentionalI think I must have have a subconscious thing for the little beauties!

il_570xN.709676255_ow84

Grann & Laglye Skønvirke malachite and silver brooch. For sale in my Etsy shop: click on photo for details.

From Denmark, I have a beautiful Grann & Laglye Skønvirke malachite and silver brooch with a rose border. Skønvirke (meaning ‘beautiful work’, and which is often anglicised to Skonvirke) was a development of the Art Nouveau and Arts and Crafts movements as developed in the Scandinavian countries of Denmark, Sweden and Norway. Grann & Lagyle was founded in 1906 in Copenhagen, Denmark by Jalhannes Lauritz Grann (18851945) and Johannes Laglye (1878?). The firm finally closed in 1955.

Also Scandinavian, probably from Denmark, and from the same period I have a lovely Skønvirke pendant with a rose design:

s

Scandinavian, probably Danish Skonvirke rose pendant and chain. For sale in my Etsy shop: click on photo for details. (NOW SOLD).

I also have an Art Nouveau style ring with a lovely rose design, made by Chritsoph Widmann of Pforzheim, Germany. This design is known as the Hildesheimer Rose, and is named after the wild or dog rose (Rosa canina) that grows up the walls of Hildesheim Cathedral in Germany. This famous rose is said to be over a thousand years old.

Art Nouveau style 835 silver ring by Christoph Widmann of Pforzheim, Germany, with a Hildesheimer Rose design. For sale in my Etsy shop: click on photo for details.

Art Nouveau style 800 silver ring by Christoph Widmann of Pforzheim, Germany, with a Hildesheimer Rose design. For sale in my Etsy shop: click on photo for details.

I also have a socking great modernist silver tone metal pendant with a rose design (well, I say roseit just as easily could be a camellia or a gardenia or similar). This takes some wearing, as it weighs almost 20 g.

x

Big silver tone metal rose pendant. For sale in my Etsy shop: click on photo for details. (NOW SOLD).

And finally I also have a Malcolm Gray Ortak sterling silver and enamel brooch, with a design inspired by Charles Rennie Mackintosh and featuring a Glasgow Rose.

x

Malcolm Gray Ortak sterling silver and pink enamel Glasgow Rose brooch, inspired by the designs of Charles Rennie Mackintosh. For sale in my Etsy shop: click on photo for details. (NOW SOLD).

And to go with the jewellery roses, here are a few flowery beauties that I have photographed:

Madame Hardy, in our garden, June 2006.

Rosa ‘Madame Hardy’, in our garden, June 2006. This beautiful damask rose has a tiny green button at the centre of the white flowers.

Rosa 'Climbing Souvenir de la Malmaison' in our garden, June 2006. The buds of this spoil very easily in the rain.

Rosa ‘Climbing Souvenir de la Malmaison’ in our garden, June 2006. The buds of this spoil very easily in the rain.

And again, in June 2007.

And again, in June 2007.  Rosa ‘Climbing Souvenir de la Malmaison’ is a climbing bourbon rose.

Rosa 'Constance Spry' growing up an apple tree in my sister's garden in Devon.

Rosa ‘Constance Spry’ growing up an apple tree in my sister’s garden in Devon. This is a climbing shrub rose with gaudy pink flowers of the most gorgeous cupped shape.

and here’s a photo of the Hildersheimer Rose growing against the wall of the apse of Hildesheim Cathedral:

Hildesheim_Rosenstock

Rings that remind me of things: Part 2

Part 2 of an occasional series. Rings in my Etsy shop that remind me of things …

Ring.

Ring.

The alien ship from Alien.

Thing: the alien ship from Alien, designed by H R Giger.

The alien ship from Prometheus.

The alien ship from Prometheus.

Part 1 was a ring that reminded me of an Iron Age hillfort

UPDATE: 28 October 2015 – the ring has now sold. Sorry!