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Originally Posted by Zeide Erskine Hi Ana,
The design looks very unamerican to me. The combination of bowls or baskets with pearls and snakes is really a Dilmun (Bahraini) specialty. It makes no sense to Americans. Who would have done that?
Zeide |
There is no way to know on what the experts at S.J.Phillips based their note. There would have been plenty of snakes in jewelry around the time, although the shape of the pin stands out as much as the pearl itself does. Victorian symbols in jewelry are a bit of a mystery to me: the snake was supposed to have something to do with permanence and protection (i.e. coiled snake pins made as pre-marriage gifts, and very common snake-shaped rings), but then, who knows anymore?
On the other hand, while I have no reason to distrust the provenance ID from SJP, I have no idea what Bahraini jewelry looks like of any period at all. Wonder if they would have even considered such remote style references even if they are highly relevant! Interestingly, no other natural pearls have geographical provenance on SJP online (no surprise, when is that ever done...) while some examples are definitely intriguing! 'Hope they would welcome an inquiry about their pearl ID from an independent expert (you)... That snake aside, one of their most valuable pearl pieces,
a five-strand necklace has an uncanny resemblance to your latest Ebay find.
