Last February at The Santa Monica Vintage Fashion Expo, I bought a stunning paste bracelet from the 1930's:
The lovely vendor I bought it from explained to me how the wealthy ladies used to have all their favorite jewels replicated in "paste" and that many of them would never even wear their real jewels out in public, they kept them in safes. So even at some of the biggest parties & events, the ladies wore their paste jewelry, while their real diamonds sparkled & shined in velvet boxes.
When I buy a vintage piece, I always like to imagine what type of lady might have owned the piece before me. I imagined the woman who once owned this bracelet to be a stunning beauty named Esmerelda Thompsonian, (photo above), who looked like Greta Garbo's twin sister. She was one of New York City's high society ladies, married to Jefferson Thompsonian, one of the wealthiest developers in the country. After many years of putting up with her husband's philandering, she killed him, by sneaking poison into his favorite chocolate souffle.
Once he was dead, (The NY Times cited his bad heart as the reason for his untimely departure), Esmerelda gave away all her paste jewelry to the women who worked for her: her cook, her housekeeper & her dresser. She decided that life was too short for her not to wear her real jewels, so from that day on she sparkled and glittered everyday. She began a wonderful love affair with The Prince of Transylvania and they lived a long & happy life together.
Her beloved housekeeper, Penelope Persons, treasured the paste bracelet that I now own and kept it in a velvet box, only wearing it on very special occasions
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