This necklace is one I sold quite a lot back in the dawn of pre-history.
Okay, maybe in 1998.
I was making and selling jewelry to various boutiques around the country and since the internet hadn’t yet been invented and the whole idea of costume jewelry that was NOT bright gold with giant fake stones was a novelty this was a popular little fetish necklace. That’s what I called these; Fetish Necklaces. There were other animals, all were constructed in a similar manner. The intention was that you’d layer this up with several other fetishes.
Because way back when, neo-Victoria, steampunky, romantic tribalism was totally new. Okay, maybe what I mean is that it was uncommon. There were a few of us out there; Kaari Meng, Arlon, Jill Schwartz and others. We made fancy romantic jewelry you could wear with a pair of silk-velvet overalls, a striped long-sleeve tee shirt and laced-up Gibson-girl boots. I had lots of black eyeliner, an armful of sparkly bracelets and crazy big fuzzy hair.
Okay, so nothing much has changed there except for the eyeliner.
This necklace is made from two stamped brass fish, back-to-back, with silk organza ribbon and a wrap of seed beads and wire. I am almost embarrassed to say that this little beauty sold for the wholesale price of $21. Now, the ribbon IS 32″ long, so you can wear this long OR short. There is a small amount of glue there holding the fish together should the wire-wrap ever fail. And did I mention that it was SILK organza?
But still, $21? That makes retail price somewhere around $42.
Wow.
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