Since I had surgery on my neck 10 months ago, I still have pain from the muscle that was pulled away from the artery that was operated on. After trying a number of things to ameliorate the pain, I guess I will just live with it.
One of the less critical issues is that some of my necklaces bother my neck especially if there is something that jabs into the area around my scar. As a result, I can’t wear some of the necklaces that were my day-in-day-out pieces.
Manjusha Jewels Artisan-Made Jewelry
Back in early December when Jeff and I went to the Peabody Essex Museum to look at a few things in their permanent collection, I was unable to resist going into their terrific gift shop especially when there’s a sale. With the discount doubled for members, one of the necklaces by the Indian designer, Jyotsna “Joey” Singh Chawla of Manjusha Jewels (“treasure chest of jewels” in Hindi), stood out to me, and, of course, I went home with it.
A couple of words on the designer, Joey: Although she is a longtime resident of the San Francisco Bay Area, she is the granddaughter of the Maharajah Bhupinder Singh of Patiala, who from 1900 to 1938 was the ruling Maharaja of Patiala, a self-governing princely state of the British Empire in India. The Maharaja had many priceless accessories and exquisite pieces of jewelry designed during his reign by Jacques Cartier and Boucheron. Joey was fortunate enough to grow up with these stunning, bespoke pieces in her home and at family events. That touched off her love of jewelry, and she began to design pieces originally for herself. The next step was to start her own business. All of her jewelry (e.g. rings, earrings, bracelets, necklace with and without semi-precious stones) is handcrafted by skilled artisans in India according to her designs.
The black rhodium disc necklace is different from most necklaces that I own. It is delicate and extremely lightweight so it doesn’t bother my neck. It has a modern look and is perfect for everyday wear. What makes it unusual is that the sterling silver necklace has a black rhodium finish and looks black. Plating with rhodium is a process by which the color of jewelry metals can be changed through soaking or painting on a new finish made up of the usually silvery precious metal, rhodium, mixed with other metals such as ruthenium, tin sulfate, tellurium oxide, and/or arsenic trioxide in a proprietary formula. My necklace is finished with black rhodium over silver.
The small gold discs are 22K gold-plate over sterling silver.
As a result, the necklace is delicate in another way besides its light weight. In order to preserve the new black and gold colors of the metals, I have to be sure to remove it before showering and probably even before exercising especially during the summer when I sweat more. But it’s not difficult to take it off.
The chain comes with an extender attached, so the length can be adjusted to somewhere between 16 and 18 inches.
I know that the holidays after over, but if you are thinking about Valentine’s Day is almost a month and you’re a jewelry lover yourself or you like to gift jewelry to others, take a look at the Manjusha Jewels website. Here contemporary pieces with an Indian twist are sold on her website, at museum stores (Peabody Essex Museum and de Young Museum, that I know of), boutiques/jewelry stores and online e.g. Shady Lane, and at West Coast gift and artisanal jewelry shows.
That is very pretty and being so delicate it suits your petite frame.