If you will be in New York starting next week extending throughout the summer, the Museum of Arts and Design is worth a visit.  MAD, as the museum is fondly known, will feature an exhibit called Portable Treasuries: Silver Jewelry from the Nadler Collection.  The exhibit starts on February 16 and will run through August 8, 2010.

 

According to the museum, Collectors Daniel and Serga Nadler have assembled a unique collection of silver jewelry from around the world, including massive neck ornaments, anklets, bracelets, complex earrings, and a wide variety of brooches and fibulae.

 

The couple also have a hard cover book out, called "Silver: From Fetish to Fashion."  The book opens with the chapter called "Accessorize!" The reader then joins the authors' travels around the globe, discussing their search for silver and local customs, workmanship and styles.  The book is available at Amazon.com and other leading book retailers.

 

The Mad Museum's Nadler exhibit will have approximatley 150 items on display, from North Africa, India and Southeast Asia.  This exhibit is the inaugural one for the Nadler Collection, which has been donated to the Museum of Arts and Designs.  This type of jewelry is beautifully crafted and in a sadly diminishing supply, with the rise of silver prices, which has resulted in much of having been melted down.

 

The example shown here is an anomymous design called Miao Neckpiece, from the Guizhou Province in China, dated 19th-20th century.
neckpiece China

 

To view more items from the exhibit, please visit this page of the Museum of Arts and Design.