THE COLLECTORS

BRACELETS
collection of Molly Garza

Molly wears one of her fabulous bracelets almost every single day, and most of the time she wears more than one. She has been collecting them for over 30 years. Her mom, the original antique dealer of the bunch, got her started. Between her, her three sisters and her mom, they have several hundred in their personal collections.

Molly says: "My bangles are all from the mid 1800s to the 1930s. I love the ones with slide openings and if they have initials, I try to find them with significance to my name or a family members. They are all gold-filled and range from 10kt to 14kt gold-filled."
 

Taille D'Epargne enameling with tiny real seed pearls from the mid-1800s.

The bracelet laying down is the first one that I ever acquired and was a gift from my mom. It is from the early 1900s.

The bracelet laying down is European from the mid 1800s.. The color is a little more "yellow" in the European bracelets than the American gold-filled.. They also are a little weightier.

This is my birthday gift this year from my husband. It is mid-1800s and has paste stones and prong-set garnets. It has a slide opening and in mint condition.

   A smaller bangle with a wonderful initial cartouche and
the words "Pa Pa" which is what I called my grandfather. It is signed F.M.Co on the inside of the bangle and in excellent condition.

   A coral cameo and also from the mid 1800s. The cameo is bezel set with tiny gold plated beading all around the edge of the bezel. It too is in excellent condition. Signed, C.M.Co. on the inside.

The stone in this bracelet is both large and beautiful.

On the left is a European gold-filled bangle with tiny garnets and it is 2" wide. The shell cameo next to it was a Christmas gift from one of my sisters and it the most outstanding Victorian Cameo that I have ever seen. The cameo itself is 1.5" tall.  Both are mid to late 1800s.

    Three Art Deco bangles. The two large ones are made of brass, and the link bracelet is copper. They are Egyptian in design and from the mid 1920s. The brass with the lapis stones I picked up from Cricket's site and a perfect compliment for the malachite and lapis one next to it that I picked up from my mom's inventory. Nice thing about mom's who are antique dealers that specialize in these beauties, we get first pick.

 
   VICTORIAN locket bracelet. The photo inside the locket appears to be original to the piece.

The panther is my most recent and has ruby eyes and a diamond in his mouth. He is in mint condition and one of the few cats that I have seen as such. He has his original  "frosted or matte" finish where majority have lost that patina. He is mid to late 1800s.

 The two filigree bangles are Art Deco and the one with the blue stones happens to be sapphires with some tiny diamonds; the pink with the matching lavaliere is a pink tourmaline.  They are from the 1920s.

   The sterling bracelets are from the 1940s. This is one that my son started for me with sterling hearts from my mom's inventory when he was a toddler. He would give me hearts for my bracelet as gifts (needless to say, he paid very little for them). The hearts have precious stones in many of them.

  This is a gold-filled "betrothal bracelet",  and was given to the intended by her fiancée. The key and heart are original to the piece. The second key is the one that the gentleman would wear. It is very unusual to find the bracelet with the original key and heart and even more so to find the fiancée's key and from the late 1800s.
 

This sterling heart bracelet is one that I recently acquired from e-bay and all the hearts on both bracelets are engraved with the gift givers name and/or date.

Three filigree and rhinestone bracelets.

These are four of my favorite because of the huge stones.

   An assortment of beautiful Victorian bangles both with and without stones.

  W&SS Co gold tone hinged bangle with pink unfoiled rhinestones set in floral design, 7-1/2" with 1-1/4" front, circa 1910. See Christie Romero's "Warman's Jewelry" 2nd edition page 210 for similar bangle.   View    View  #Y26439

   My most recent "put-together" bracelet and features both Victorian and Art Deco watch fobs on a heavy gold-filled bracelet

 An interesting assortment of Victorian bangles, one heavy repousse bangle, one mesh carnelian cameo with a slide closure and the last is a Victorian Sorority bracelet for Beta Epsilon Omega and from the late 1800s.