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For centuries, long before dresses had pockets and women carried purses, ladies wore necessary and useful implements clasped at the waists of their dresses. They were usually worn suspended from a clip or large brooch with chains and hooks to hold the various implements, although later decorative chatelaines were also worn on a finger ring. Fashioned of both precious and non-precious metals, they could be extremely simple or ornamented with embossed work, pierced work and gem stones. They were fashioned in a wide variety of materials: gold, sterling, gold wash, cut steel and sometimes enameled and jeweled.

Chatelaines might be comprised of items all used for one task...sewing, for instance... or combined with various items that suited the wearer. Some were matching sets like the cut steel chatelaines and others were compiled over time by the owner, especially the sterling chatelaines. Belt chatelaines or waist hooks were also used to hold a purse. Most fashionable from the early 1800s to World War I, they remain popular with collectors today.

For wonderful chatelaines and accessories that you can purchase, please click HERE.



And to see pieces in our reference gallery, please click HERE.

CAROLEE Jewelry, based in New York, has been around for over 40 years. My friend Barbara first introduced me to it, and I became fond especially of the Limited Edition pieces that came nestled in their own special boxes. Brooches like the leaf and lady bug, the juggling clown on a unicycle with a wheel that turns, and the jointed ivy and berries brooch are all special favorites, and all were made in the later 1990s up to the mid-2000s. And whimsical pins like the thimble full of faux stickpins are such fun to wear.

Their pieces are well made and have high quality setting, stones and enameling that will be are a joy for a long long time.



To purchase CAROLEE jewelry please click HERE.

http://www.morninggloryjewelry.com/