QUEEN SKELETON NECKLACE

Remember the saying: "Better red than dead"?  That comes to mind, so let's give it a new spin. So why not embrace both the color red, AND the queen skeleton. who represents death with this reverent neckpiece?  

A crowned hand-carved bone skeleton, with extremely articulated features, is paired with red carved bone beads from Afghanistan, African glass, and vintage skull beads from India. One large vintage Javanese mosaic clay elbow bead sets the piece off with its asymmetrical presentation. Hand carved bone beads accent the whole piece. The skeleton figure is a protective amulet for the wearer, and represents the bridge between life and death. In Korean culture, it is believed to symbolize leaving the old and departing toward rebirth.

This fabulous piece is 25" long, with a brass hook clasp set with tiny coral cabochons. It is truly one-of-a-kind!

"Better red than dead" and "better dead than red" were dueling Cold War slogans which first gained currency in the United States during the late 1950s, amid debates about anti-communism and nuclear disarmament (red being the emblematic color of communism).

The first phrase, "better red than dead", is often credited to British philosopher Bertrand Russell, but in his 1961 Has Man a Future? he attributes it to "West German friends of peace".^[1] In any event, Russell agreed with the sentiment, having written in 1958 that if "no alternatives remain except Communist domination or extinction of the human race, the former alternative is the lesser of two evils", and the slogan was adopted by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, which he helped found.  Thanks Wikepedia for these insights.