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MORNING GLORY owns and sells at THE ANTIQUE CONNECTION MALL on Historic Route 66 at 12815 Central Ave NE, Albuquerque, New Mexico, as well as on our web site, Facebook and Instagram. We are just off Interstate-40 at the foot of the beautiful Sandia Mountains. We have about 50 friendly and knowledgeable dealers in a 10,000 square foot clean and well-lit building. It is a really fun and interesting place to shop with a wide variety of antiques and collectibles. In addition, we offer maps to the other local shops, places to sit and relax a bit while shopping, and even sparkling clean bathrooms.

The hand painted lids on these ormolu style gold metal jewelry or dresser boxes can be a lesson in art history! Many were inspired by Victorian era or earlier artists, like Elizabeth DeBrun for instance. In this case, these are hand painted onto a porcelain disk. These could have been mounted on metal, porcelain or glass boxes. A vanity top full of these is really lovely, as can be seen in the photos.

Many are beautifully lined with velvet and/or silk, and some have mirrors in the lid as well. These are lined and some have little feet supporting them, too. Whether you want one of a collection, they are a joy to own.

PORTRAIT BOXES are for sale, click HERE.

To see what's new on Morning Glory on any day, please click HERE.

The portrait brooches can be hand painted on porcelain, ivory, paper or mother-of-pearl. They can be set in gold with precious gems, mounted on jet or simply costume jewelry. They can be a lovely lady, a dignified gentleman or a charming child. Whichever is used, portrait jewelry is a sentimental favorite, a personality captured in time and a classic fashion accessory. I am fond of them, including the ones set into Whitby jet.

In the days before photography, a hand-painted portrait miniature was a desirable keepsake or love token. While some of these miniature art works were done of actual people including both royalty and everyday folks, others were painted of mythological characters and idealized lovely ladies. Mother-of-pearl, ivory and vellum were often used as paint surfaces.

Settings range from the simplest rolled gold twist frame brooch to gem encrusted wonders. Artists who did portraits in miniature were called "limners" and they did not only pieces for jewelry, but also work meant to be framed for display, often in lacquered wood or ivory embellished frames. Some made their living traveling from city to city taking commissions as they went.

Later portrait jewelry was inspired by lovely ladies from the 1700s to the Victorian era and right up to the bobbed hairdos of the Deco era. Some are better quality painting than others, as with all jewelry. Some of the 20th century favorites are those done by Nettie Rosenstein, Robert, Hobe and Florenza.

We have a wonderful selection of portrait pieces on our web site!

VINTAGE PORTRAIT JEWELRY is FOR SALE HERE.

Vintage Portrait items are in our Jewel Chat gallery HERE.

To see what's new on Morning Glory on any day, please click HERE.

The ANTIQUE CONNECTION MALL in Albuquerque, New Mexico, has a wonderful Holiday Treasure Hunt each year, with free refreshments, dealers to chat with, and a real treasure hunt with free prizes all throughout the mall! Mark it on your calendar, it's
Friday December 13th from 4-7 o'clock.

We will sure look forward to seeing you, and feel free to bring family and friends!

NEW ADDITIONS

Morning Glory adds recent acquisitions weekly and you can always see them here:

http://www.morninggloryjewelry.com/