Hinged Bracelet

[robinhoodsmate]

Hi all.
I have a hinged bracelet of some age. I inherited it with many other interesting items from my father many years ago and now that I have retired wish to know more of them.
The weight is about 500 g. It is cast and has serpents, tortoise or turtle and birds. It is secured by a pin with a flat head on chain.

Many thanks for your time

 

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[nhbenz]

There appears to be some writing (markings) on the inside of the side with the chain attached. Maybe a light cleaning there?
I think the main chunk of this was something else, almost more industrial (it looks like iron), that someone added decoration to.

 

[Back-of-the-boat]

Put a magnet to it let us know what happens. To me it makes me think of Oriental dragons might be someone's own interpretation of that style.Are there any makers marks or any initials on the piece.

 

[robinhoodsmate]

Hi nhbenz
Thank you very much for your opinion. I have owned this item for thirty years or more and have never cleaned it. It shows no sign of corrosion. I have put a magnet to it (thank you back-of-the-boat) and there is no pull. This item is both ornate and yet basic. It is one piece (two halves, help!) and appears to be a basic casting, perhaps in sand, clay or such, judging from the uneven inner. The outer is of a much better quality as one would expect. There are no obvious maker marks and I am sure this predates hallmarks. I have taken pic's with a macro lens and will post them when I find out how.
Regards

 

[Back-of-the-boat]

I think you have been very smart to have not cleaned it.(please don't it would lose value probably if you did) I wonder if it might be Silver and either Native American in origin or possibly something from the Orient.I think it is an awesome piece, if you can take individual pictures of all the animal figures it might help in the I.D.

 

[Clay Diggins]

It looks to be a fairly early colonial period African cast bronze bracelet. There are quite a few fakes of these, and they are still being made today, but this one has the appearance of a real one. Look for file marks, there shouldn't be any on an early piece.

The design of the birds looks very much like Dogon tribe casts I've seen before from that period. The rough inside and smooth outside is typical of the earlier Dogon castings. The detail side was cast with smooth slip clay and the inside with coarse clay.

Nice piece potentially with some real collector value.

 

[nhbenz]

I am sure this predates hallmarks.

I'm not sure that's likely the case, as hallmarks were required in England back in 1300. But that aside, what I think I see is some pieces of lettering, which I only see (or think I see) when I twice enlarge the image, done here by clicking twice on the image. And I can always be wrong, especially when it comes to "seeing things".
But Clay is right about the African style of it. I hadn't realized what it was made of and thought of iron because of how sturdy the frame of it looks. I can't find examples of hinged slave trade bracelets, but I hope it turns out to be something of that significance.

 

[thejeffsr]

Very cool

 

[robinhoodsmate]

Hi nhbenz
I'm pretty sure it is not of English origin. I have added some macro pic's above. I have just gone over it again with an illuminated 40x loupe and cannot find any letter or number marks. At 40x it does show more detail of the uneven surface of the inside of the bracelet, so much so that the mind can get carried away. I have re-assessed with a 2x loupe and still see no signs of significance.

 

[nhbenz]

I agree, certainly not English, I was just doing some irrelevant nit-picking about hallmarks for which I apologize.
I am certainly prone to imagining details, so that's likely the case. I thought I saw some curvy letter type objects in there.
There are some similarities to examples attributed to Mauritania, but then like Clay mentioned, some similarities to Dogon bracelets too. So maybe in between with influences of both? It's well beyond me! Here's a quick google search of Mauritanian bracelets; antique mauritania bracelet - Google Search

 

[Back-of-the-boat]

Was your father Military if so I would think he picked that up during his tour of duty and you could research where he was stationed and narrow down the search a little. It does have a Tribal feeling to it. Or he could have picked up on a vacation abroad.

 

[robinhoodsmate]

My father was in the RAF in the 40s - 50s but I think he got this much later. Many of the items handed down to me seem to have very few connections, other than his Churchill collection.