Sterling silver gilded pendant from 1950s or 60s Israel. Although not marked Bezalel, it is likely a Bezalel design as I have a larger pendant from that era that is basically the same design and is marked as Bezalel in Hebrew. The chain is 18

Inches.

The center is a chai inside a star, and the outer part is ringed with an embossed garland and the shema prayer. It is a little larger than a U.S. quarter.

About the jewelry I have listed:

This is mainly 1930s-1970s stock from an Israeli imports store which my grandparents owned from the mid-1950s to the late 1970s. It was on Broadway and 98th Street in New York City. I have been selling off what remains from the store. Half of the profit goes to my aunt, who is disabled.

My grandparents lived in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem from 1933 to 1953. In Jerusalem, they lived in the neighborhood of Talpiot, where there was a ma’abara, a tent camp housing Jews who emigrated from Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East until homes could be built for them. My grandfather visited the ma’abara, where many Jews who had just arrived from Yemen were houses, including the head of the Bowsani family, prominent silversmiths. He began doing business with them and other Yemeni artisans, and continued to do so after he and my grandmother opened the store. They also imported many pre-State and mid-century Bezalel pieces. 

I am a professional archivist, so I try to describe the items to the best of my knowledge. Almost everything is sterling silver with parts of the older Yemenite pieces being coin silver. The items range from 19th or early 20th century amulets from Yemen and 1930s Bezalel and early independence items to 1950s-1960s work by Yemenite artisans and modern pieces from the 1960s to early 1970s. Some designs I have never, or have rarely seen anywhere else.

Based on what my father remembers from helping with the store, and on my own research, I indicate the approximate age and origin of the items when possible, but if it’s an educated guess on my part, I indicate that the information is not confirmed. 

Many of the items are “new” in the sense that they were never owned, but please keep in mind that these are vintage and antique items, many of them handmade, with patina, so there are sometimes imperfections. I take closeups of all items so they are visible. A few items are my designs with components from their former store.

I can combine shipping and offer volume discounts on some items. However, please keep in mind that my prices are reasonable to begin with (sometimes not significantly more than their price tags for the early 1970s, when the cost of silver was very low), Ebay takes 15% of price and shipping cost, and that half of the profit goes to my aunt.