Clever Links in an Antique French Silver bracelet. For a short period in the late 1800s a long-since-gone French jewellery firm, probably in Paris, produced an array of Silver chain designs, like the above, wondrously complex in linkage and superbly handcrafted, some in plain Silver, as the above, some in Silver embellished with touches of 9ct Rose Gold, and when executed in straight Silver, often presenting the “night and day” effect of juxtaposing polished plain Silver links with worked Silver links, scored or brushed or, as in the above, worked in a dense snakeskin pattern.
The workmanship is simply a wonder, for the links are hollow, not solid; the work is so labour-intensive as to preclude any modern effort at reproduction.
This type of French Silver chain, with its sparse obscure French stamps, always in bracelet form, began appearing about a decade ago in the English antique market, always in excellent condition. Naturally enough, it is now becoming difficult to source.