Old Silver Thandatti Ear Weights (Earrings)

• Location- Tamil Nadu, India 

• Estimated Age- late 19th century to very early 20th century

• These are beautiful geometric shaped silver ear weights. The round ball is threaded and unscrews allowing a hinge to open and close for insertion into stretched earlobes. These are about 1-1/2" tall by about 1-1/8" wide and weigh about 13 grams each.

• These are very rare especially in silver as they would normally be seen in a high karat gold. These exquisite adornments are said to have been influenced by the entrances of temples or Gopurams found in Tamil Nadu & Kerala. These are seldom worn at all anymore as many younger generation do not have stretched earlobes and do not plan on doing so.  Most of the older high karat gold pieces have long since been melted down and turned into other jewelry or sold for gold scrap.