Bronze Pendants and jewelry charms are here at last! We have been working hard on this new, affordable line for many months and we are so excited that it has finally started to arrive. We currently have in stock our natural bronze, in a beautiful warm finish that is slightly deeper in color than brass, as well as silver plated bronze. In a few weeks, we will also have gold plated bronze in stock. We are using the same reliable 40 micro-inches of plating over the bronze that we currently use on our vermeil style gold plate over sterling silver.
Bronze is an alloy of copper and tin whose discovery heralded a new era in material culture, hence the “Bronze Age”. Bronze is significantly harder than copper which made it particularly well suited to weapons production but it was also used extensively to make jewelry. Dates for the Bronze Age varied by region. It had always been assumed that the Bronze Age began in Greece, Egypt and China, but recent controversial discoveries have placed bronze production in Thailand as early as 4,500BCE, over 1,000 years earlier than other regions! That places our Thai bronze pendants in a long tradition of bronze casting.
Indonesia also has an ancient tradition of bronze casting. In addition to jewelry and artifacts, bronze drums were produced throughout Southeast Asia around 300BCE. The largest known drum, The Moon of Pejeng, still sits in a village temple in Bali. I had a chance to see it about 20 years ago. It is a beautiful specimen of ancient metallurgy. As they do with almost everything, the Balinese have several entertaining myths about this drum. This one is my favorite:
“There were once thirteen and not twelve moons in the sky. One day, one of them fell to earth and got caught in the branches of a tree. Its light was so bright that thieves were forced to stop their nocturnal work and had to discuss how to extinguish the disturbing light. The most unscrupulous of them finally climbed up the tree and urinated on the moon until it burst and fell to the ground in the shape of gong.” (From The Art And Culture of Bali by Urs Ramseyer)
Moon of Pejeng
Bronze Pendants
Silver plated charms
They’re gorgeous from what I can see (with your superior quality I’m sure they are just as perfect as your other charms) and I can’t wait to play with them!
Comment by Alison Kelley — July 28, 2011 @ 1:29 pm
Lovely charms…Do you know if people can have an allergic reaction to Bronze…?? Just wondering…
Comment by Lisa Michele — July 29, 2011 @ 8:21 am
Nina,
excited to see the options now available on the site — the bronze turned out beautifully. Curious if you plan on phasing out the sterling silver charms in favor of the silver plated bronze (and vermeil style for gold plate over bronze)?
thank you
peggy
Comment by Handmade Jewelry by Peggy Li — July 29, 2011 @ 5:19 pm
Hi Peggy –
Thank you! We’re all very excited about the way the bronze looks. There are no plans to phase out our sterling silver or the gold vermeil. We anticipate a need for both products, plus the silver plated looks a little different because they are not oxidized like the sterling silver styles.
Comment by juanita — August 1, 2011 @ 11:55 am
Hi Lisa –
Great question. The quick answer is it depends on the bronze you’re wearing. Our bronze is an alloy of copper and tin. It is a high quality alloy we sourced from Italy. It is mixed with precision instruments and with the highest standards, so we can offer a product we are proud of. But a lot of antique “bronze” jewelry (and perhaps even current production from other sources) also contains nickel and zinc. Technically, “real” bronze does not contain these other elements, and ours does not. It is our understanding that it is the presence of the nickel and zinc that can cause allergic reactions. Plus, also keep in mind that everyone’s skin and body chemistry is different. Please let me know if you have any other questions. You can also find more answers on our Bronze FAQ page.
Comment by juanita — August 1, 2011 @ 12:05 pm
I love the new bronze collection. They are beautiful pieces at very affordable prices. All of your charms are beautiful!
Comment by Jill - SC — August 4, 2011 @ 8:32 am
I have a bronze question…..will you be introducing any bronze findings like chain, necklaces, or earrings to go with the bronze charms? They look lovely!
Comment by Jennifer at Shop Cancerversary — August 15, 2011 @ 7:09 pm
Hi Jennifer – We will be introducing a number of our Bali earrings in bronze. We will probably run numbers and move forward with the most popular earring styles first. Look for those in the next couple months. And, we are currently looking into vendors for bronze chain and findings, like jump rings and headpins. As soon as we find something that meets our standards we will move forward on that front too. We appreciate your business and thank you for your interest in the bronze line, and please do keep checking back. It is a growing collection.
Comment by juanita — August 16, 2011 @ 10:57 am