Russian Niello Thimbles

There seems to be a lot of Russian niello thimbles on eBay and elsewhere lately, generally coming out of Yerevan, Armenia. Some of them have an all-over niello design while some are predominantly bas-relief or filigree with niello accents. I haven't handled one yet but the online photos are all fairly detailed and they seem to be genuine. I have seen one advertisement for a "Russian" thimble, also out of Yerevan, that looked more Iranian to me, but in that particular instance there would not have been a difference in the thimble's value.

Piercy's Patent

This Piercy's Patent thimble was recently (Nov 27th through Dec 7th) put up for auction by one of my favorite eBay sellers, Elegant Arts Antiques. The thimble has a sterling silver top with a tortoiseshell body decorated with a yellow gold floral design and cartouche and rose gold rim. I don't really care for the Piercy's Patent thimble one usually sees, which has sort of a slanted shield on its face, but I do rather like this design. It is still too expensive for me, though. The starting bid on the auction was US$50.00, with the ending price at US$1,176.79, which still did not meet the reserve price. It will be interesting to see what it will eventually sell for.

Cartier gold thimble from Simons Bros.

14K gold thimble from Simons Bros., size 9, marked Cartier, with crocheted hat thimble cozy.
US$70.99; 2 bids, starting at US$69.00.

29 Nov 2009.

Recipe: White Chocolate Chunk Thimble Cookies

White Chocolate Chunk Thimble Cookies
2 c. sugar
1 c. butter, softened
2 eggs
1 tbsp. grated lemon zest
3¼ c. flour
3/4 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. baking soda
2 c. Nob Hill Trading Co. White Chocolate Chunks
1 c. raspberry jam

• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Cream together sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat in eggs and lemon zest.
• Add flour, salt and baking soda, stirring until just combined.
• Stir in white chocolate chunks.
• Place heaping tablespoon-size balls on ungreased baking sheets; bake 10 minutes or until slightly soft in the center.
• Remove from oven and make a thumb-size indentation in the center of each cookie; fill with about 1 tsp. jam.
• Bake 5 minutes more or until cookies are lightly browned around edges.
• Let cool on baking sheets for about 5 minutes, then transfer to wire racks to cool.

Nutrition per cookie: 230 calories, 2 g protein, 10 g fat (6 g sat., 0 g trans), 34 g carbohydrate, 0 g fiber, 30 mg cholesterol, 130 mg sodium, 4 points.
Prep: 10 minutes Cook: 15 minutes
Yield: about 36 cookies.

From: http://www.raleys.com