It certainly looks like a prefabricated tourist type of piece, but not like any of the other Harvey era bracelets that I have seen. Any ideas on this one? No maker’s mark or stamp anywhere on it. Also not marked sterling although I was told it is.
The stamp marks on it are so precise, it does not look handmade. Not the typical Harvey style markings I have seen.
The snakes around the stone are unusual.
It’s “tourist era” jewelry, more or less contemporary with Fred Harvey (but not as early) and made by machine process of nickel silver, not sterling (not marked sterling, correct?). Bell Trading sold things like this in bulk quantity to retailers. Fred Harvey items were made of sterling silver and coin silver, even though machined.
Fun view of Bell offerings:
Yes it is Harvey era, I have seen this before. Very nice! Hard to tell who made it. Harvey era items are manufactured or stamped or punched out with machines. Some of these companies did actually employ Native Americans, allowing them to call their products Indian or handmade. Another name for this type of jewelry is railroad jewelry, because of the mass sales done near the railroad stops. This is a nice example of a slug bracelet.
Thanks for the info! I looked at it under a loupe and I may see a spot, thereby indicating that you may be right about the nickel (non) silver. It’s in good shape, though. I guess in this case I should consider it more for its historical value rather than the material it’s made from, but I am disappointed it’s not sterling. Otherwise I think it is a neat piece.
@chicfarmer I just love that you can find things like that on the internet! I love reading the history on some of those things.
Glad to share. This material has its own charm and collectibility, so it’s fun to read up. Also, a silver testing kit is good to have on hand when you want to figure out silver content.
The machines that stamped these out also were used to make metal slugs, another name for what comes out of a metal die stamp machine.
@Christibo haha! That makes sense. I was wondering if there was actually a symbol of a slug, or if it meant something else. Haha. Thank you for the explanation.
my granpa had a bunch of slugs tied up in the corner of a pillow case=used to steal from the coin-operated machines he serviced
