Although I am very much attracted and distracted by anything glittery, when couture costume jewelry pieces from the 50s and 60s approached stratospheric prices, I turned to other options. About ten years ago, I noticed that although the rhinestone pieces by Christian Dior had gone too high for me to continue buying them, bead necklaces by Dior were plentiful and cheap. As in $30 or $50 and occasionally, if I had to have it, $100.

Now these bead necklaces are going for several hundred dollars and I haven’t bought one in many years. This multistrand yellow glass and crystal necklace is dated 1959 on the clasp and actually comes with a star shaped piece that will fit on top and hold all the beads in one place at the side. I’ve never quite gotten it to stay on, so it sits in a drawer,

Dior actually named each of these pieces, which were part of seasonal clothing collections. I’ve been fortunate enough to acquire the hang tags with the names on some of them, but alas, not this one. Dior bead pieces use luscious glass, often with swirls of colour in them that look like the best Venice had to offer (and like those crazy wonderful marbles that were around years ago…)

The best thing about this necklace is the pear shaped drops on the last strand. They elevate this from the typical three strand piece so often found in the 50s to something with a lot more pizzazz. One of my favourite Dior pieces.