Coral 1950s French. Purchased at a market on the outskirts of Paris in the 1990s, the necklace is an example of the rudimentary skills and material available in the aftermath of an economically crippling war. The twenty-seven orange-red Corals in the above “Coral 1950s” are all of fine natural gemstone quality, but the metal used is all base white metal.
(This is an evocative piece, evocative of a period of scarce supplies and scarce skills. Whoever put it together all those years ago, with a little store of precious un-drilled gemstone Corals, had little to work with -pliers and some base metal wire- and no bench jeweller skills to speak of, but figured out how to hold the Corals securely in place, and create a necklace that hangs quite nicely.