Antique jewelry glossary

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W-shaped earring

A type of earring in the general shape of the letter W, formed by a splayed, coiled rod or by a wire with two descending loops of which the inner arms rise to form a high narrow central loop. Examples are known from c. 800 BC - 600 BC, mainly from Rhodes and Melos. Decorated versions have the outer ends topped with small horizontal discs, and others have superimposed on the discs the heads of griffins or a pomegranate ornament: on some the ornamented discs are turned outward. On later examples the apex of the central curve is masked by an embossed rosette.

Such earrings were worn suspended from a thin wire passing through the earlobe.

From: An Illustrated Dictionary of Jewelry, autor: Harold Newman, publishers: Thames and Hudson