A Charmed Life…
Here is the beginning of a long… story.
In the beginning (for me) were , among other things, Charms. The company I first worked for was the largest fine gold charm manufacturer in the U.S.
I left after a number of years, and the company ceased to produce these incredibly detailed pieces. The owners were great and lifetime friends of mine so we never lost touch. In (about) 1998, I reanimated the company and restarted the production.
I’ve since retired the line again, though it’s in my possession.
Maybe it’ll come out of hiding again in the near future.
Most of the pieces shown were created around 1933, there were new pieces added right till my leaving to attend to my own studio.
This is the world I grew up in, small, often moving sculptures to be suspended on a bracelet.
There are hundreds, so just a few pictures on occasion.
Enjoy,
Jim
Absolutely amazing jim. amazing
Detailed workmanship! Good skill. Glad to see remaining of 100 pieces…
-MANIMUTHU
Wow Jim, lovely little charms. Looking forward to seeing this gallery grow.
Best,
Alec
I have read that Pandora and the like are not as popular, but I see a marketing opportunity. Millennials buy experiences and souvenirs. We need to ditch the charm bracelet and start charm necklaces.
I did this in the mid 1970’s since a bracelet was in the way of my working on computers. I had fun childhood with adventurous parents who moved to Europe for a couple of years (these two Americans actually met in Europe!). My grandmother sent me extra money specifically to build a charm bracelet. My husband loves adding to it.
Charm Holder necklaces were very popular in the NY market around that time.
Hi,
Great piece, I see a number of our charms in there.
See if you can match them up as I post .
Thanks,
Great Thanksgiving too all…
Jim
Hangin’ out…
Hawaii was a big part of our charm market, here are but a few of the extensive collection (I’ll post individual shots as time allows).
We sold to the Cruise Liners and Dole (of pineapple fame). Again, with a couple exceptions, these are 30’s pieces, Hawaii was still a pretty exotic destination that took a minimum of 5 days to get to from a west coast port, lots of time to shop onboard…
On this bracelet we have a small Hula Girl,a Hibiscus, a Tiki, A T shirt, Guy surfer, Aloha in a Hibiscus lei ( each flower is cast individually & strung on chain !!), a hollow Pineapple, a Girl Surfer (Wahini), a Palm Tree with Hawaii sign, A Koa Nut (hollow), and 2 small pineapples on a common jump ring (notice they are 2 separate designs).
more to come,
Thanks,
Jim
Great details on these charms!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Erica
Thanks for the photos - I really enjoyed your level of detail - Great work.