Crescent Moon 1930s North African Antique Sterling Bracelet

This Silver Crescent Moon calls to the spirits and to the shadows. The energy and meaning and mystery of a crescent moon has called to us across history. Countless civilizations and peoples have depicted this evanescent vista of our galactic partner winking down to the barest shadow of itself. The crescent moon represents the changing seasons, perfect for the passage of Fall to Winter, and indeed the seasons after, as you cycle forward into known & unknown, the sought & the found. The crescent moon is also a symbol of ebb and tide, powerful energy, and - just to us - the ability to find a path forward with only the faintest light to point the way. How resonant at a time of extraordinary upheaval across all of our lives, with so much worry and heartache, grief for a planet burning and full of fear. The moon shines on in each of its phases, no matter what we can see or understand of it. And when it’s back to its full power, it can light the world. The rest of the year, this gorgeous bracelet speaks to the desert, to Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia. You are hereby transported to North Africa in the 1930s, maybe to a flight over the Sahara beneath a billion stars. And hanging just off your wing tip, that timeless crescent moon that means so much to us, much of which we don’t even fully understand. Perhaps you are destined for Casablanca, in the oldest sense after crossing a stretch of land that needed such an oasis. Or maybe you are there in a more Old Hollywood glamor kind of way, and you’re sitting there at the bar waiting to say “Play it again, Sam.” All of us, in our hearts, are welcomed by this bracelet to the story of Le Petit Prince, to the magic of everything we don’t know is waiting for us in this vast place we think of as alone. A traditional style of silverwork, but a lovely unique example of an artist brilliantly executing it. We can find some bracelets of this genre, but not other crescent moons. Purchased years ago at a storied antique flea market in New York City, behind The American Museum of Natural History from antique jewelry dealers, from the incredible estate of a Long Island society heiress who had travelled the world in her youth. Gravity, meaning, mystery - the crescent moon has called to us across history. Countless civilizations and peoples have depicted this evanescent vista of our galactic partner winking down to the barest shadow of itself. The crescent moon is a symbol of ebb and tide, powerful energy, and - just to us - the ability to find a path forward with only the faintest light to point the way. How resonant at a time of extraordinary upheaval across all of our lives, with so much worry and heartache, grief for a planet so very afraid. The moon shines on in each of its phases, no matter what we can see or understand of it. And when it’s back to its full power, it can light the world. Antique jewelry dealers from whom we purchased it said it acid-tested sterling silver. Exquisite wire work, or cannatille, as described by Paul Eudel in his Dictionnaire des bijoux de l’Afrique du Nord : Maroc, Algérie, Tunisie, Tripolitaine (1906). We’ve included an out of focus photo to show a little of how the silver detailing gleams and shimmers in the moving light. Another photo of this inside, showing patina and shadows of where the metal was worked by hand, we took in front of a bristlecone pine photograph, because they live to be 4,000 years old. Sure that’s nothing compared to the Moon but we needed more ancient backdrops, besides the ocean. Pin closure secured to the bracelet by a safety chain, fits and closes the bracelet securely. Inner circumference 7 inches. Inner diameter 2 1/2 inches. Width at widest point in front 1 1/2 inches and at narrowest point in the back 3/8 inch. Small surface line in the silver at the base of one of the domes.