I was at an estate sale one Saturday morning and saw a tray of vintage costume jewelry, which is my favorite thing to look at. I spotted a necklace with transparent beads that had a luminescent rainbow color quality about them. I was suddenly reminded of my daughter when she was young and playing with our cat. She would blow bubbles from a little plastic bottle and the cat would jump at them and pop them. That lovely memory, of course, caused me to walk up to the table and pay for the necklace. Nostalgia got the best of me!

I was sorting my jewelry purchases of the day with my 10 year old granddaughter and I picked up the rainbow colored transparent necklace and showed it to her. I told her I was going to list it on Ruby Lane and wondered what she thought I should call it. She quickly answered, “it looks like soap bubbles, Grandma”. Indeed it did.

I researched soap bubble jewelry, for lack of a better name for it, on the computer and found that is exactly what it was called when it was invented in the 1940s. It is lucite with an aurora borealis coating on it to give it the rainbow effect. Aurora borealis coating is also used on rhinestones and adds a magical effect when looking at it in the light.

I don’t see this type of vintage jewelry very often, but when I do, I quickly purchase it. I feel it has beauty and a universal nostalgia to it. We have all stopped to watch the soap bubbles floating from a sink full of dishes, kids playing and blowing bubbles and the colorful light display in a bubble bath. The aurora borealis rainbow at your fingertips!

Carol Smuck
Visit: northeast-acquisitions