We love a good antique find, but we
especially love
a good refurbished antique. When we
discovered
we fell immediately in love with the unique
pieces of jewelry.
Antiquarian Couture is run by local, John
Bauer.
John is a jewelry
designer who uses vintage antique
watch parts and other jewelry
findings to create interesting and
new pieces of jewelry. His
style is one that is mostly steampunk
inspired with a bit of
fantasy mixed in. He mostly makes pieces interesting
to have and look at.
Each piece is unique and while he may have
some pieces that look
similar, no two pieces are exactly alike.
All pieces are made
using care and precision to make them
safe to wear (no sharp
edges or points that can snag or damage clothing.)
Also, everything is coated in
resin, making it almost
unbreakable as well as
easy to clean.
He create the pieces by using
a mixture of industrial materials
as well as natural
ones.
This particular piece we
became immediately obsessed with
is a necklace is made by making a
jeweled beetle and
attaching it to a dog
tag. The dog tag has a flower image on both sides of it and
on top of that is the beetle
over a coat of resin. The body of the beetle is made
using an oval-shaped
antique watch movement from a ladies watch
piece from the 1930’s.
Two bronzed, metal wings are on either side and two green
shells are actual jeweled
beetle shells. A single green, glass bead is
on top as the head. There
is also a yellow topaz, at the top of the dog tag.
The pendant hangs from a
22 inch long stainless steel chain.
We were immediately drawn to the way the emerald
was so striking against the pink. It looks even better in real life!
You can find more of these amazingly unique pieces by visiting his website,
The online store is set to open this spring so if you see
any pieces to your liking, email John at
for jewelry inquiries. You won't be disappointed.
fox + gypsy
