Diamante Delight

I have a fairly good collection of diamante or costume jewellery dating back a century or so. I first started acquiring necklaces for £2 or £3 a time during my A-levels when an antique shop next to the bus stop I got off at when coming back from school started regularly displaying it in its window. Back then I bought pretty much anything they got that was old and sparkly. Now I'm a bit more discerning.

One of those side-effects of working is that they do pay you, so having a fair whack of disposable income for the first time in 18 months I've started occasionally looking at ebay to see what's out there. And I've made two purchases.

I prefer silver metal but this one caught my eye as, in colour, it resembles another one I wear quite frequently (I collect to wear, not to preserve) and it was a design I hadn't seen before. That upside down horseshoe shape and the triple baguettes where the chain attaches made me think of Art Deco and Fred Astair and Ginger Rogers in Top Hat. Ah, to be Ginger Rogers in that film. Her grace of movement, those dresses, the settings, the romance....ahhhhh. Anyway. The second were being sold as a set but are mismatched and the necklace is actually slightly broken with half the clasp being missing.

Often jewellery like this is sold as being for repair or repurposing because it can break quite easily. Catches and clasps are usually quite easy to repair with some wire or, as a last resort, glue. I haven't done that yet with this necklace but I did wear the brooch and bracelet when we went out for my birthday dinner last night. Actually they paled into insignificance when compared with my most blingy accessory.

Yesterday was my 37th birthday and, since it just so happens that it falls on one of America's biggest celebrations, Pooch and I ventured out for dinner and fireworks. Fog managed to dull the fireworks but not the flashing of my headwear!