Treasures

The next bead to be reviewed is the silver Treasures bead.

Treasures Compared in Size to Porcupine and Stay Positive

This bead is one of my favourite beads, being round it work in pretty much any bracelet combo. It is a fair size, it’s bigger than Porcupine, but smaller than Joyful, and it’s hollow but is still a good weight.

 

Treasures Compared in Size to Porcupine and Stay Positive

The official description from Trollbeads reads ‘A silver Trollbead that's different from every angle. Treasures; for the love you treasure in your life.’

Here you can see the different sides.

 

It shows the treasure of the sea with a starfish, seaweed, flat shell and conch shell over it. I love the amount of texture with the bead and the fact that the holes where the bracelet goes are incorporated into the design and not ‘drilled’ through it. It features lots of open spaces within its design, but unlike Mesh or Ornament you have to look really closely to see the chain showing through. On the brighter leathers you may be able to see it more; unfortunately I don’t have any (yet) to try it out on!

I tried to compare Treasures with Love within, Chinese Zodiac Limited Edition (this one is Horse) and Angles Tip. It was hard to try and get photos which clearly show the size of this bead and I wanted to use as many options as possible incase you had the other beads, but not Treasures (you need it!) 

Treasures is often confused with Ocean which is the same size and carries the same oceanic theme. The way to tell them apart is that Treasures has a Conch shell on it and Ocean has a half a starfish verses Treasures full one.

 

I love this bead because of its starfish (and my obsession with the star shape) and because the shells remind me of going to the beach and hunting them out for my mum who loved all the designs and colours of the shells.

Let see what this gets pared with for the weekend!

Check Mate! :D

Excitement has run through the Trollbead Collecting community as a Very Very Very (yes it needed capitals) Rare bead has made its way to 3 Danish Retailers.

The bead in question is actually a Chess Lock. The thing that makes this lock so precious is that is has never been officially released. Trollbeads HQ in Denmark have run Trollbead Academies for a few years now. They invited retailers to visit them and find out more about the Brand, how they make the beads and what makes Trollbeads so special. As a special gift they were given the chance to make decorations on a plain clasp. The idea was that it gave retailers an idea of some of the work that went into making Trollbeads. They were then allowed to keep the clasps. In later Academies they were given the clasp as a gift, but don’t make them.

The only way to get hold of a Chess Lock was to be invited to an Academy or be given a clasp by someone who didn’t want the one they had. Chess locks have been sold for in excess of £400 online!

Recently Trollbeads gifted a small number of Chess Locks to said Danish retailers and they were made available for just a little bit over the cost of a regular lock (£45 - £50ish) I jumped at the chance of owning a piece of Trollbead History and a couple of days after placing my order on a Danish website a very special parcel arrived on my doorstep!

The lock really appeals to me as it isn’t floral or an animal, decorative without being feminine. It’s slightly smaller than regular locks, it’s the same size as the new plain clasp and the new Seahorse and Dolphin locks (I think all the locks are going to start being this smaller size now) Many people have commented that the locks were quite bulky, so this may appeal to them. It does mean that bracelets are going to feel a bit tighter when on though.

The distinction between the squares isn’t as great as I would like it to be, this lock is quite shiny, I would’ve liked a bit more oxidisation, but that being said, I love it!

I’m waiting for a very special bead to arrive before I put together a combination with this lock, but until then here it is compared to my Mexico Lock and with the lovely Danish Pouch in which it arrived.

Let me know what you think of it?