MARDI GRAS BAUBLES: CATCH THEM AND SELL THEM!




New Orleans Mardi Gras costume, mask and beads on a parade participant

  

Mardi Gras bejeweled masks, glitzy doubleloons and sparkling beads have reached the realm of collectibles. If you will be heading to the “Big Easy” for Mardi Gras this year, keep an eye out for really distinctive sparkling and glittering baubles. 

 All manner of treasure from New Orleans’ Mardi Gras parades are sold online at Ebay and Worthpoint stores.

So it may be worth it to bend-over and pick-up something sparkling in the light.  If you don’t want the parade memento, perhaps you can sell the treasure to someone else to use for Mardi Gras design decor.

ORGANIZE YOUR BEADS AND JEWELRY, FIND TREASURE

I had to rummage through some old, unfinished bead projects to find a pendant I recalled buying several years ago:

In this bag of old beads and fashion jewelry in the basement...





... I found this antique Ethiopian prayer box

 

Recently, I viewed a religious pendant while on  an antiques website.    It was described as a Yemeni Hebrew prayer box.

 I recalled that I had purchased something very similar many years ago. So I started rifling through my basement storage area. I found the pendant in a bag holding a mishmash of old beads, fashion jewelry and gold findings.

When I bought this prayer box many years ago, I didn't even know what it was, I just liked the particular tint of the red glass beads.  I planned to use the beads in another project that  I never got around to starting. 

ETHIOPIAN PRAYER BOX

I determined that my prayer box is from Ethiopia based on the yarns holding the box. The bezel to the right is not empty, it appears to contain a small, possibly shrunken gemstone, maybe an opal.

Now... back to organizing my old beads and jewelry findings. Maybe I'll discover more treasure.