My Jewel Box: Snake Bracelet + Tortoise Shell Cuff

This past week I went three days in a row without wearing a jacket!! This is incredible news to everyone, seeing as this winter seemed to be one of the coldest I can remember. Bracelets are quite tricky to wear with long sleeves and jackets. I almost always never wear bracelets in the winter. I can’t even remember my go-to stack from last fall, so I’ve come up with my new favorite trio of bracelets since spring has sprung. It uses a bracelet that I’ve had for awhile, and two new ones acquired over the long winter. Now I can wear them and feel good!

1. my Forstner snake bracelet: an iconic piece and highly collectible. I am through and through fine jewelry all the way. This gold-filled bracelet is my only exception. It is easy to slip on and stack with any bracelet combination and it immediately makes me feel slightly Victorian in all the right ways.

2. my Tortoise shell cuff: tortoise shell is actually what the jewelry industry calls when describing jewelry or trinkets made from the Atlantic hawksbill sea turtle. It was highly popular in the Victorian Era, although it has been used for thousands of years. Tortoise shell is soft but fairly tough, so a cuff like this can withstand everyday wear. With many imitators out there, how can you tell it is truly tortoise shell? Either sticking it with a hot point (it will smell like burning hair) or immersing it in hot water (it will smell like wet fur or wet hair) unlike plastic.

3. my Jet beaded snake bracelet: this was a rare find and it took me awhile and I actually had to ask, if it were a snake? It was thrown in a case of antique jewelry at Scotts Antique Market in Atlanta and I was pleasantly surprised when I saw it. Jet is another organic material popular during the Victorian Era. Jet forms from fossilized wood of certain types of trees that once dead, often end up as driftwood that gets swept out to sea. From driftwood it became waterlogged debris, sinking and eventually being buried under many layers of mud, decaying organisms and other aquatic detritus. Under great pressure for millions of years and with all of the requisite elements, jet forms. Jet is extremely lightweight and has a high luster and polish.