Introducing...the Norwegian silver pendant.

Affectionately known as the 'Indiana Jones necklace.'

Even though this pendant doesn't actually look much like the staff of Ra headpiece from Raider's of the Lost Ark there's something vaguely Egyptian about its styling, and its large circular shape and scarab-like center stone made Chris and me both immediately think of Indy.

Image from here.

Of all of the jewelry I recently 'inherited' this is probably the piece with the most actual value. (I can't claim to be a jewelry expert but I did search the maker online and found an identical piece on eBay.) As near as I can tell (again, no expert) this necklace was designed for David-Anderson by an artist named Bjørn Sigurd Østern in the early sixties. This particular design is a stylized representation of Viking long boat. (Not at all Egyptian, which was my original, uneducated impression.) I like A LOT of the other things by this guy that I've seen online- I feel another collection coming on. Apparently this designer also created some famous pendants representing Thor's hammer. I think it would be neat to own one of those, since my new (married) last name is Thordsen.

Here are the markings on the back, for those with an interest in such things.

This is certainly my most favorite piece of the 'inheritance.' I shortened the chain considerably but I think it needs to be just a tiny bit shorter still. I wanted to err on the side of caution since it's hard to add length again without getting a new chain altogether. I've worn the pendant a few times at this length and now I'm sure that I want it to be shorter. And I did try to wear this piece with the chain at its original length. I think it's important to try to preserve the integrity of vintage pieces, if at all possible. But it's really hard for me to wear longer necklaces. They tend to hang off of the fullest part of my chest like they're being dangled off a cliff. It feels annoying and it looks ridiculous in profile.

I initially thought that the central stone in the pendant was turquoise but it turns out that it is likely something called amazonite. I've never been a fan of turquoise (or amazonite for that matter.) I'm not sure why I don't appreciate turquoise. Even I think it seems like I should, given how much I love wearing blue-green, teal, and aquamarine. And turquoise is almost always set in silver- by rights I should adore it.

I think one of the things that turn me off of turquoise, in spite of its color, is the natural veining and irregularity of the stone. I'm the same way about heathering in knitwear. I know that yarns with slight color variations are supposed to enhance the appearance of softness and depth in knits but I prefer the look of true solid color knits. Heathering seems more casual, less sophisticated. More sophistication is what I'm after. I feel the same way about turquoise. And turquoise jewelry very often has Southwestern styling, which doesn't appeal to me at all.

This cashmere cardigan features some of the heathering I've just been vociferously maligning. It's pretty subtle. Impossible to see in photographs. Almost invisible in real life. I really wanted a light blue cardigan so I ordered this hoping that the heathering wouldn't be too obvious, even though the color was called "aqua heather."