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Antique Double-Row Coral Necklace Made of "Corallo Sciacca", c. 1935

€ 890.00 ^*

Content 1 piece

Incl. VAT, Shipping

Antique Double-Row Coral Necklace Made of "Corallo Sciacca", c. 1935

Description

This description was automatically translated from German. If you have any questions about this piece of jewellery, we will be happy to help!

In August every year, Baroness von Üchtlitz celebrated her birthday at Schlochtin with a summer party. Next to the castle, on the large meadow, stood a grove of lime trees, "where the tea was to be taken. The meadow and the grove were full of people, full of colorful dresses, colorful ribbons, colorful hats, and in the green of the grove, in the gold of the afternoon sun, all the colors took on a gemstone luster." The two young princesses of Neustatt-Birkenstein drove up in the Landau. They wore blue summer dresses, coral cords around their necks. In his last great novel, the "Princesses" from 1917, Eduard von Keyserling once again brought to life all the splendor and splendor of the nobility in the old empire, but the end of the familiar order already shines through with every ray of sunshine. Here, at the baroness's summer party, it is quite natural to wear coral necklaces. After all, these jewels of the sea were very much a summer adornment at the turn of the century. This necklace is no exception. We see rosy, orange-red corals arranged in two rows. These are pearls with the characteristic salmon hue of the "Corallo di Sciacca". The strands are arranged in a graduated pattern, meaning that they become thicker towards the center. The hand-cut pearls then have a diameter of around 7.4 mm. The necklace is held in place by a clasp made of so-called "American doublé", a historical technique in which a thin sheet of gold was rolled onto a base metal, usually brass. Its design suggests that it was created in the 1930s, most likely in one of the large Pforzheim manufactories. Coral found off Sciacca was long used for jewellery in Italy and Germany.

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In July 1831, an undersea volcano erupted off the coast of Sciacca on the south coast of Sicily. Fishermen observed the explosions and were astonished to discover that the volcano had formed a new island. As soon as the eruptions ended, a fierce dispute broke out over which country should own the new island. The Kingdom of Both Sicilies considered it a natural part of its territory and named it Ferdinandea after its king, Ferdinand II. However, Great Britain also laid claim to the new territory, which was strategically located on important shipping routes, and named it Graham Island. The French fleet also claimed the island, which it called "Julia", and Spain also laid claim to it. The dispute was finally settled by nature: by 1832, the waves had eroded the island to such an extent that it sank into the sea and only remained as a shoal. But what does this have to do with corals? The repeated undersea volcanic eruptions and numerous earthquakes had killed off large quantities of coral, which formed one of the richest deposits in the entire Mediterranean. These subfossil corals had taken on a salmon-colored hue through storage in the water, which made them unmistakable. This marine treasure was discovered by chance by a fisherman in 1875. Mining of the corals soon began, but just as quickly, by 1915, the deposits were completely exhausted.

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Size & Details

Summer Happiness

€ 890.00 ^*

Content 1 piece

Incl. VAT, Shipping

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