Dutch 18th Century Amsterdam necklace, a so-called "bootjesketting"

We have no clue why a bootjesketting is called a bootjesketting. Bootjesketting is Dutch and translated to English it would be something like "chain of little boats". One thing is certain: the bootjesketting is part of the typical Dutch jewellery heritage. Some descriptions in museums describe this as typical for the northern Dutch provinces of Groningen and Friesland.

We have strong doubts that this is the case because, besides this example made in Amsterdam in the eighteenth century, there is also a known similar example, also eighteenth century, but made in Rotterdam (to be found in the collection of Museum Rotterdam). Today, most of the bootjeskettings found are made in the nineteenth or even twentieth century. It is extremely rare to find one from the eighteenth century.

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Click here to see this antique necklace.