A Handmade Treasure - a photo on Flickriver

This necklace is made up entirely of 1920s glass bugle beads that were made in Toruń in northern Poland (then Pomerania). There are some unique shapes, and being made of glass, they are very heavy.

However, what is remarkable about these beyond their amazing and unusual looks, is their equally amazing and unusual history.

Between 1923 and 1939, these beads and millions like them were produced from a very successful workshop on the outskirts of Toruń and sent to fashion houses both locally and in cities like Prague, Vienna and Paris. Then, with the coming of Hitler\'s invasion of Poland and the Second World War, the owners of the workshop closed their doors. They took the beads they had in the workshop and buried them in boxes in the ground beneath the floor of the workshop and then fled, hoping to return to reclaim them some day. And so the beads remained buried beneath the flagstones throughout the Second World War when the workshop was razed, and beyond during the re-building of post-war Poland. Although still in possession of the land on which the workshop had stood, the owners and their descendants never returned to Toruń to claim them, and the beads became a thing of legend. Nearly seventy years later, descendants of the original owners returned to Toruń to live, and decided to see if there was any truth to the stories of \'buried treasure\'. Much to their astonishment and delight, what they uncovered beneath the flagstones were thirty great boxes, still well preserved in the earth, of 1920s and 1930s glass bugle beads!

The beads were split up amongst a few relations, including friends of mine who are artists. Knowing how much I love vintage clothing, beads and the 1920s, they made me a gift of three stunning necklaces made from the bugle beads in the ten boxes they inherited. This is the \'Naszyjnik z niebieską łezką\' or \'Blue Teardrop Necklace\'.

This year the FFF+ Group have decided to have a weekly challenge called “Snap Happy”. A different theme chosen by a member of the group each week, and the image is to be posted on the Monday of the week.

This week the theme, “homemade” was chosen by Laszlo, Laszlo Papinot.

I featured another necklace made by the same friends for “Smile on Saturday” a few weeks ago. It is a delight to get to share another one with you so soon for this Snap Happy theme.

Taken on: September 1, 2020

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homemade

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Naszyjnik z niebieską łezką

gift

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aqua

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cobalt blue

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Deco

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Art Deco glass bugle beads « less

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Camera: Canon DIGITAL IXUS 80 IS, f/2.8, 1/10 sec, 6.2mm, ISO 800 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon DIGITAL IXUS 80 IS
Aperture:	f/2.8
Exposure Time:	0.1 sec (1/10)
Focal Length:	6.2mm
ISO:	800
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	sRGB
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