Antique Large Beautiful Chinese Kingfisher Feather Jade and Gold Hair Ornament

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Antique Large Beautiful Chinese Kingfisher Feather Jade and Gold Hair Ornament:
$599.00

I recently received an estate from a life long collector who passed away. It will take many months to bring all of the items to E bay..

In this collection are vintage and antique dolls, vintage toys, art, vintage folk art, vintage ethnic and semi precious beads, vintage jewelry, vintage silver and jade.

I will be presenting all of the items on E bay for purchase as either Buy it Now or for sale. I am not an expert in all of these fields so I will describe as best I can and I urge you to ask questions.

Please keep checking my listings.

Presenting from the collection

I have presented many similar hair ornaments but this one is very large and

elaborate. Designed in the shape of a Butterfly it is from the 1800s

This piece measures 8\" long and the top is 2 1/2\" x 2\".

The jade is pale and translucent light green and white and carved beautifully.

Blue kingfisher feathers are used as accents

The piece it put together with gold wire.

The butterfly is so perfectly copied that is looks real.

There is little information available describing how kingfisher feather ‘enameling’ was actually undertaken during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. However, a snippet from Mary Parker Dunning’s book Mrs Marco Polo Remembers, in which she recorded her travel experiences of 1908, does describe the process.

I bought a kingfisher pin. The foundation of the pin is cheap silver. Then the wonder worker, a patient, spectacled Chinaman, takes a single hair from out of the bird’s wing, draws it through a bit of glue and lays it on the silver foundation. Then another hair, which he lays beside the first. Then another and another and another, endlessly and headachingly and eye-tiringly, until he has laid the filaments from the feathers of the bird’s wings so closely together that they look like a piece of enamel. [Mary Parker Dunning 1968 (quoted in Jackson 2001: 50-1).]

Before the gluing process could begin however, the metal framework had to be prepared. This was done by soldering gallery wire to the edges and surfaces of the metal base, creating partitions defining the motif. The different components would then have been soldered together to make three-dimensional forms, and the feather filaments cut to size and glued in (Richard Mafong in Jackson 2001: 51). Jack Thompson, at the Conservation laboratory, Portland, Oregon has identified the type of glue used as funori, a mixture of animal hide glue or alternatively, isinglass (made from the swim bladders of fish) and seaweed extract.Funori, applied warm, dries very thin and is thus perfect for attaching very light materials such as gold leaf or kingfisher feather filaments (Jackson 2001: 52-3). Thompson’s findings appear borne out by Sung Ysing-Hsing’s [2] work on 17th century Chinese technology which describes glue made from the bladders and intestines of fish (Ioffer. 54). The whole process of inlaying with the feathers was called tian-ts’ui, literally ‘dotting with kingfishers\' (Jackson op. cit. x).

Because I am an E Bay buyer as well as a seller I know what buyers need to offer confidently on a item. I have over 2200 positive response at 100% satisfaction and I am a Top Seller. I have been selling on

E Bay since 2002 and my sales are $500,000!!! I only sell 100% authentic items and will provide a guarantee that the items are as described or your money back. I will photograph and describe any flaws or important information needed to make an informed offer on an item.

WE WILL ALWAYS PROVIDE A FULL REFUND CASH IF THERE IS A GROSS MISREPRESENTATION IN THE LISTING OR IT IS RECEIVED DAMAGED AS LONG AS IT IS RETURNED WITHIN 14 DAYS OF RECEIPT. HOWEVER PLEASE READ THE LISTING CAREFULLY AND ASK QUESTIONS AS THERE WILL BE NO RETURNS FOR BUYERS REMORSE.

See my other listings for more great items!

Payment for buy it now should be immediate. The item will be shipped within 1 day of payment. Checks take longer to clear and thus shipping will take longer. Sales in California will require a sales tax as required by the Franchise Tax board of Ca. If you have a resale number please provide it to me as I am expected by law to declare the taxes on California sales.

I no longer use Global Shipping Program so I will ship to certain countries USPS Priority Express International. Please do not ask for a cheaper rate. I cannot and will not.

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