Oh my goodness, you have style! Each grouping is so unique, romantic, and simply gorgeous. Your idea to keep them together in capsule bags is brilliant. Already one of my all-time favorite threads. I would be happy to look at photos forever. (More photos!!) Also, your outfit descriptions are lovely. Beautiful!
Simple enough to go with any outfit - but at the same time enough to keep up with any outfit. Yes to foil backed rosies in this style usually being tiny!! Yours definitely have unusual presence! Grannie-chic to savage-sultry. I’m so stealing that line 
savage-sultry. Indeed!
So is Athena in coral or ivory, d’you happen to know?
I’ve been looking forward to finding enough uninterrupted time to go through this thread properly all weekend!!
Your first capsule. Well. I see why it’s your most worn.
How do you keep the chain draped to layer in three lengths like that - is there a clip at the back?
There's no clip - I sometimes wear it only doubled, so then it hangs longer. My nature is to play with my necklace all the time so there's an unconscious habit of sliding it back into alignment. I never feel it choking me but I'll just smooth it by pulling the shorter length down when it gets uneven. So far so good!
Second capsule. That chunky paperclip delight. I confess that’s where my eyes go first. I’ve had trouble with paperclip chains - any very large link chains with long flat links - they can be a bit challenging in terms of fit around the curve of the wrist. I think I know what you mean. This one has more than enough drama to stand out around the neck.
Thanks, I know what you mean about the long links. They really look better on the neck but sometimes I want a whole armful of jingly jangly jewellery.
The opals, how often do you wear those?
I chose these for daily wear with masks, so about twice a week, since that's all the time I go out shopping or running errands, etc. They're also fine for sleeping in as the posts are substantial and the studs are so small. I really can't tell if they are natural opal or some kind of synthetic. Honestly I bought them for the settings, which are just adorable, and I had delusions of grandeur thinking I would send them off to have some OECs put in. (Can you imagine how any vendor would roar with laughter!?! The eye-rolls would make an optometrist blush.) Here's the original link: https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/in-which-“sweet”-was-not-an-epithet-edwardian-rose-gold-opal-studs-or-how-to-disguise-earring-ennui-as-minimalism.260745/#post-4839536
Third capsule. The cameo is beautiful. I saw an incredible earring+pendant set of portrait miniatures on IG a couple weeks ago and yup, I went down that rabbit hole… Whole new appreciation for portraiture in jewellery.
Yes I agree! The V&A has such an amazing permanent collection of portrait miniatures! Naturally I had to buy the book. I can't be the only person who feels like they single handedly keep museum gift shops alive. https://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/portrait-miniatures
See this is what I love about PS. So many ideas!! I can honestly say that I’ve never thought to just leave clasps and dog clips empty. But… Why the heck not? They don’t look “unfinished”, they look “deliberately absent” - effect is sultry and memorable
Thank you for sharing my opinion! I love a group of charms hanging but the dog clip itself is such an oddity - almost iconic in design - and they aren't really made any more. It feels anachronistic, but in a good way. Does that make us "Hipsters"?
Am I correct in remembering that you make your own silver jewellery? That silver chain - is that one of yours?
With regret, I don't make anything from scratch; I just perform Assemblage, if you would permit the term. I think maybe @stracci2000 does that miraculous work!
Your grandfather’s capsule. #Adulting once a week, that’s the life
Athena seems to be Sardonyx or Onyx, as the black is visible from the side view, creeping up onto the white. I'm confident that the cameo is not a marriage of two different layers but is made from one solid block, and rather well-carved. She seems to have a tiny chip missing from the end of her nose, but at her age who wouldn't have some war wounds!
If I may - some pearl drops would be a marvellous addition to this capsule. On short danglies - like your rose cuts. Ohhhh and what if you did natural pearls!?
I would happily trade an arm for some natural pearls but vendors always say, "Visa or MasterCard, madam?" so I guess 'barter' has died out. Shame. I thought that's why they're called "in the trade" but I guess not?
Etruscan revival. This is my favourite capsule so far. If I saw you at the coffee shop and you told me you were a museum acquisitions coordinator for a Decorative Arts gallery in London - I wouldn’t think twice. But I’d probably be too intimidated to ask about any of the spoils
But what are the earrings for this capsule?
An excellent point - I'm trying to find a pair of Girandoles without selling a kidney. Wish me luck. And why am I so thirsty after writing that.
When I style I tend to be… Let’s be honest here, I’m kind of unimaginative with my combinations. Same themes, or same jewellery house, or same design elements. But then I see other people pair coral beads with chunky chains and solid bangles and it works, and that really IS inspiring.
<3
Your great grandmother’s watch chain collection. I could see the agate pin in here. In a literal hat - a hat for a sundress, that fits right?
Yes indeed! On the other hand, maybe I could set it as a charm for the dog clip? The gold color is a match already.
Please tell me you wear her pocket watch. What a special piece. I have nearly nothing in the way of inherited pieces - and the few I will get one day, I won’t have any freedom to resize or remount, even the pieces that aren’t safe to actually wear. They’re to be preserved exactly as is forevermore. That’s part of why I “collect” now - I want great grandkids to inherit pieces they can have fun with without fearing the wrath of my ghost. I’m thinking I’m going to have to start organizing things into styling sets rather than “all bracelets here”, “all earrings there”.
I do wear it once I a while, but especially every year on February 24th, which was her birthday and the date she was given the watch. I do a crown braid that day too, because she wore them even after her auburn hair went silver. As an aside, I'm lucky to have the 'provenance trifecta' (the object, a photo of the owner wearing it, and the diary entry from the day she received it). I suspect in the box of family archives there hides an original receipt. I'll post more pics.
And, okay, imagine if the great grandkids actually inherited those sets as-is - they’d get see how we actually wore our pieces, back in the 21st century - I love this idea!!
Sure, like a snapshot of style - of course the generations skip in aesthetic taste so the next gen will be less smitten with our Elan, than the 2nd gen... they will be thrilled at the treasure their parents passed down from grandparents! I certainly am. And grateful that more of it was not destroyed, and that I had the great good fortune to know my ancestors and am able to hold their things in my hand (some a century or more later). Wearing them makes me feel connected to them, and since I'm the last to carry my family name and I have no kids, I'm the last stop on the journey, in a sense. Maybe that's why the idea of preservation means so much to me. I hope my niece, who will inherit my bling, will understand the enormous weight of meaning in these few grams of gold.
You’ve put so much love and knowledge into your collection. IG is full of millionaires who collect everything under the sun… But I often wonder how much they know, or care, about the things they collect. Beyond buying and unboxing and owning. That you care enough to explore… Makes our peek into what you’ve collected that much more special, thank you for sharing @PreRaphaelite
This is as close as I could get to a hoop earring with Ionic terminals - I should have them in a week or so and I'll add a photo if they are keepers.
These are beautiful! I see why you fell for the mounts
You aren't! I can't not buy the ridiculous little baggie of bin "gemstones" they've always got
Your book habit is of muchg higher class Oh!! Lovely! Didn't occur to me! Worthy of her battle scars, indeed
This so special!! Yes please do
This is as close as I could get to a hoop earring with Ionic terminals - I should have them in a week or so and I'll add a photo if they are keepers.
Thanks for asking! I’m super happy with them. They are much like the old watch-chain C-clasps with spring slide closures, except the post the the thing that slides. This means they are mounted from the rear, to hide the slot, if you see. They’re also slightly directional, designed so that they slope, and I’m pleased that they can hang flatter forward or stick out more to the side as the day calls for. Also they’re hollow, so lightweight. I think we can cal them Square Doric columns, but let me know what you think?
In other news, I’ve decided that the Athena needs a more substantial chain, so I’m on the hunt for a twisted foxtail chain in 14k yellow, about 19-20”.
Also there are 2 new necklaces on the way and oh boy am I excited about that! If I play my cards right, two of the capsules will be combined! I hope I don’t wind up looking like Mr. T.
Ha!
The earrings look wonderful on you! And I've never seen posts (?) that work quite like that. What a clever design! These might rank right up there for me with your opal studs with their unique screw backs as far as interesting and unique design is concerned.Thanks for asking! I’m super happy with them. They are much like the old watch-chain C-clasps with spring slide closures, except the post the the thing that slides. This means they are mounted from the rear, to hide the slot, if you see. They’re also slightly directional, designed so that they slope, and I’m pleased that they can hang flatter forward or stick out more to the side as the day calls for. Also they’re hollow, so lightweight. I think we can cal them Square Doric columns, but let me know what you think?
In other news, I’ve decided that the Athena needs a more substantial chain, so I’m on the hunt for a twisted foxtail chain in 14k yellow, about 19-20”.
Also there are 2 new necklaces on the way and oh boy am I excited about that! If I play my cards right, two of the capsules will be combined! I hope I don’t wind up looking like Mr. T.
Ha!
Thank you!
I’ve been messing around in photos and with my lack of skill, here is as close as I can get to showing what I want to do with the Etruscan Revival pin conversion.
@PreRaphaelite -
Would you be kind enough to share the weight / width of your gorgeous paperclip chain and where you found it? I'm on the hunt.
Many thanks!
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