From Montana
A bracelet found in a Billings second hand store.
Pricey for costume jewelry.
Sixty dollars.
But the adjustable mechanism was very cool, and it closed with two satisfying clicks.
I wanted it and I bought it.
The more I looked at it, the more I wondered…
I took it to a New York jeweler.
“Can you tell me if this is gold?”
First he checked the stones.
Diamonds and sapphires.
Then the metal.
14 karat gold.
Then, he weighed it.
Seven thousand dollars.
Just for the gold.
He estimated “Vintage, diamonds and sapphires. Approximately fifteen thousand dollars.”
I looked it up.
It is made of something called “Tubogas”.
Invented by Italians, Tubogas is a thick ovoid flexible linkage which resembles… gas tubes.
I found a matching single strand necklace on 1st. dibs.
Van Cleef & Arpels. France. 1940’s.
Eleven thousand dollars.
2 1/2 inches in diameter by 15/16 thick
Sixty dollars
