My Favourite Things: Dangle Earrings

In olden times, a savvy woman would stretch her jewellery budget with convertible earrings. You would have one pair of the actual thingy that went in your ear and you would mix things up by adding different styles of ear drop.

Actually, it’s not such an old fashioned notion: I remember drops, such as the onyx and diamond babies pictured above, being popular in the 1980s. I found these drops at the Value Village years ago, but could never source appropriate earings, which would have been half hoops with a little stop on the back to keep the dangle from falling off. Oh I tried hanging them from full hoops, or wearing them as a pendant, but it never felt right. Then one day, about a year ago, I discovered these golden earrings digging through the bins at the St. Lawrence Sunday Antique market.

Sometimes it’s the search that makes me love something more. Like, even though I paid about $6 in total, I invested years in finding a match.

Here is another pair of orphaned drops that I bought in a lot at auction. This time I had a pair of vintage ear wires on hand so I could wear them.