‘Aurore’ keshi pearl and silver butterfly hair vine

This beautifully hand crafted vine features a spray of iridescent flowers created from freshwater keshi pearls with vintage crystal bead and pearl centres. These are surrounded by leaf sprays of almond shaped pearls. The smaller flowers at each end are crafted with vintage pale silver grey oval freshwater pearls with aurora borealis crystal centres. Two antique silver vermeil butterflies, each marked ‘800 Continental’ and dating from the early 1900s, rest on the flowers.

The vine is 23 cm long and is flexible enough to be shaped into different hairstyles, maybe around an unstructured semi updo or as a simple hair decoration to one side or at the back. It fixes into place with little wire loops at each end.

The word keshi means “poppy seed” in Japanese. Keshi pearls are a bi-product of pearl culturing and have an especially lustrous and shimmering surface quality. In recent years Tahitian and South Sea pearl farms have adapted their culturing processes so that the Keshis don’t have time to form. This practice has made keshi pearls much more of a rare find than they once used to be.