After acquiring all that upholstery from Grandma’s house, I figured for the sake of the floor space in my house, I’d better stick to smalls for a while. That’s when I found this beauty — a pinky-beige starburst vintage jewelry box!
The screen printed graphic in the center is very mod looking — it reminds me of a starburst clock.
Each side of the box has a smaller compartment with a starburst handle…
…aren’t they awesome? Starbursts are my all-time favorite retro design element.
It was so exciting to find this vintage jewelry box — I saw one a long time ago that was very similar — but I missed out on buying it. Since then I’ve been wanting a nice jewelry box for storing my vintage costume jewelry and wouldn’t you know, I couldn’t find a new jewelry box on the market that seemed retro enough…
So I held out and waited. After months of daily searches — BAM — there it was! My tip of the day, and one of the only times you’ll see me doing math: patience + persistence = payout … at least in the hunt for vintage goodies.
The only thing wrong with it is that the center stacked trays have come loose from the top and don’t rise when the box opens anymore — not a deal breaker for me — but I do wonder if there is a way to fix it.
It used to pivot on two small pins, but those were yanked out of their holes at some point and will not snap back into place. I can’t glue it because it needs to be able to pivot. Maybe some small nails or something. The box is basically cardboard wrapped in fake leather, silky stuff and velvet. Not much to nail into. Any suggestions?
Otherwise, I’m just airing out this box a bit — it smells a little like that old fashioned face powder stuff that some ladies use on their face I think… (do you know what I’m talking about? I’m not really a makeup girl so maybe I’m just talking crazy?)
Anyway, even if this atomic starburst jewelry box can’t be repaired — I still love it. And I think it will look FANTASTIC on my Broyhill Brasilia dresser…don’t you?
Way cool! You could fix the jewelry box with ribbon. Some of the older jewelry boxes had ribbon glued to the top and tray to help raise it as the top is opened. It wouldn’t utilize the pins but it’s an option.
Great idea Heather — thanks! 🙂
Nice find Kate! I love starbursts on anything. That looks like it was riveted. Maybe do some searching for decorative rivets. If you can find some small rivets that look to be the right length, then get a simple riveting tool (not very expensive and a good tool to have), and practice with your rivets on some similarly thick cardboard pieces. Good luck!
Great idea Uncle Atom — I know quite a few of us retro types are attracted to starbursts! 🙂 I’ll keep my eyes peeled for small decorative rivets….
Adorable… It is going to look awesome on your dresser. Sorry I am no help on fixing it but good luck.
Thanks! Now to clear off a space for it to live…
Maybe just brads and ribbon. Anyway, it is very pretty.
I hadn’t thought of brads and ribbon…another great idea! Thanks!
What a neat jewelry box. I’ve never seen one like that. Starbursts make me happy, too.
I have a couple of old jewelry boxes inherited with costume jewelry and they all seem to have a certain smell. Maybe, they did hold the ladies face powder compacts since many of them were pretty fancy & jewelry like.
That might be why it smells that way to me — hmmmm….
How could starbursts do anything but make people happy? 🙂