Posted 3 years ago
highlander56
(79 items)
I’ve been watching for one of these at a reasonable price for quite some time. My Mom said they were quite the rage with the older girls and young women in the 1940s. She called them friendship bracelets.
Much to my surprise, this one is marked Coro Mexico Sterling on each link, maybe indicating it is the original version of the bracelet? I’ve seen many others that had random sterling marks on the back and the links were similar, but with variations.
It measures 6.5”.
How lovely! So personal and charming. I have never seen one like that before. Now it is on my radar too:)
What a lovely find. I think this dates from the WWII era. Silver was allowed for jewelry production, because base metals were for the war effort. Coro as well as other manufacturers made shell casings, windshields and other war materials. Jewelry production was reduced. However, demand was still there so Coro contracted with the Mexican silversmiths, who had a great deal of experience working with silver to help them meet the demand.
Andreamw When watching for them, make sure the links are all the same size. I’ve seen some that were not, and I believe people bought links on eBay and threw them together. You will be able to tell rather quickly.
Ms.CrystalShip It’s got a ton of tarnish, so have been polishing up. A few scratches, but overall great condition for its age! Lois and Sue must have been great friends as it was well loved!
plain-air-painter My Mom said she remembered them a lot during the War with the high school girls and older girls. Especially if a family member enlisted, they would create friendship bracelets with the enlistment date, branch of service and family names for the women to wear. But I agree with you it’s WWII era. This one appears to have been a Christmas gift after the War.
They were somewhat of a mix in popularity and probably developed into the beautiful charm bracelets as some of the pieces were traded from best friends.