Miss Nettie Martin's Hands

Description

She was like a local queen. She bought the night club on the corner of St, Nicholas Avenue and 139th Street, she named it Nettie's Jazz Joint. I would sneak onto the fire escape of our apartment and watch all the folks come streaming in on Friday nights, dressed sharp as a dagger. I wanted to be like her, I knew I could, she came from nothing too, like she just rose up from dust or something. God gave her hand a special touch because everything Nettie Martin touched turned to gold.

This brooch is composed of three elements, a vintage award ribbon pin in red, white and blue like the French flag, a contemporary silver Victorian hand (molded from old tooling) and an antique skeleton key. The piece comes attached to a Victorian calling card which reads, "Nettie Martin".

Added on Oct 19, 2009