Vintage Brooches

My love affair with vintage brooches started when I was a little girl. My Nan would get her beautiful carved jewellery box down from high on a shelf in her closet and I would sit on her bed for what seemed like hours admiring them. It always seems to come back to childhood memories doesn't it?





This faux pearl lapel pin was my Nan's. She would wear it on the collar of an apricot linen suit. Nan was always well dressed; I used to think she even looked glamorous in her nightie and slippers, as she always wore high heeled slippers with pink fluffy feathers and a few sequins thrown in for good measure.

The two blue brooches were a Church jumble sale find in the Isle of Man when I visited there in my backpacking days; before the thought of lumpy beds and shared refrigerator space appalled me. The purple sparkly one is from an antique shop in Mill Street in St Peter Port here in Guernsey.

The pink heart, which is one of B2's favourites, is from the same Guernsey shop, while the star is an Isle of Man find from my last visit this July; only £3.00!

The larger brooch is from the same Guernsey antique shop. There are about seven antique shops in Mill Street. If you visit Guernsey they are well worth a look. Be aware however that most of them do not open until 10.00am and some are closed on Mondays. If you are sight seeing in St Peter Port Mill Street is only a five minute walk from the high street.

The flower brooch is an eBay purchase and the little bow hair clip is from a car boot sale. You just never know when a treasure will turn up.

I wore the larger of these two crowns to B2's 6th Birthday party. It was a Princess theme, so I donned my only pink jumper and pinned on the crown. I did look a sight for that party; not because of the crown but because I had bought some lovely pink and white helium quality balloons for the occasion (I mean we must match mustn't we). I was merrily blowing one up about two hours before the Princesses were due to arrive when... BANG.... it exploded ON my eyeball. Off we all dashed to the doctor's surgery, anesthetic drops, dye, a special light to highlight the damage and a massive eye patch later we were back home just in time to throw on my pink jumper and brooch and hope that I didn't frighten the guests when they arrived at the door. I had to retell my ridiculous story seven times to each parent as they dropped their kids off just in case they thought I was some weird Pirate Princess. Thankfully the anesthetic lasted until the guests had all left. The large crown was from eBay and the small one from the Guernsey shop (they were having a 60% off sale so I made the most of the opportunity).

These are two brooches from our recent trip to the Isle of Man. I was feeling a little ancestrally patriotic that day and thought it would be nice to have a Manx memento.

These china flowers constitute the largest part of my collection. The are plentiful in the charity shops at the Bridge and never cost more than a pound. Most of them are chipped here and there but when you display them together the imperfections only lend to their charm.

Speaking of displaying - I intend to find a large, ornate frame, paint it white and place waded velvet (colour is undecided as yet, although I am open to suggestions) inside the picture and pin them all on as a piece of wall art. Much nicer to admire them than have them tucked away in a box somewhere. I haven't found the right frame yet but I'm sure one will turn up eventually.