Find Out all About Findings at the Attleboro Area Industrial Museum
Find out about findings and find out
about a component of the area’s history
through a new exhibit at the Attleboro Area Industrial Museum.
By Susan LaHoud, The Sun Chronicle, August 13, 2009
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Findings, different parts that are
combined to make a single product, are exhibited in a variety of displays
of jewelry and other decorative pieces produced locally dating to the
early 1900’s, said museum director George Shelton.
The exhibit was drawn from pieces of the museum’s collection which includes 13 or 14 boxes of samples accumulated from area companies over the years, he said. A number of the items on display were carried around by salesmen to show a company’s ware. “We found we had a lot of attractive pieces,” from bracelets, tie clips and cufflinks, to signs of the Zodiac, animals and flowers, Shelton said. The museum’s staff cleaned and arranged for the exhibit more than 500 pieces of its more than 1,500-item collection involving findings. The exhibit is open for viewing Thursday and Friday, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and will run for several months, Shelton said. |
| “The whole idea behind the exhibit is
to educate people about what findings are - the building blocks of all
pieces of jewelry,” he said. A few of the manufacturers, like the Guyot
Brothers in Attleboro, started in 1904, are still in business today.
They make ornamental jewelry findings, filigree stampings, brass charms
and novelties.
Fasteners, decorative ornaments, clasps, hinges, pins, posts, ear wires, crimps, jump rings, beads and chains, are among some of the findings produced locally. Some jewelry firms over the area’s history manufactured their own findings and some produced only findings that they then sold to other firms who combined them to make their finished products. The exhibit, Shelton said, “gives a flavor of the various findings that were popular during that time,” including a display called “Bells and Whistles,” which resonates with its name. The Attleboro Area Industrial Museum, 42 Union St., Attleboro, is open Thursdays and Fridays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.mp. More info: 508-222-3918 or www.industrialmuseum.com |
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