Napier Graduated Curb Chain Necklace, Late 1980s

Heavy flat curb links, graduated so they swell from the nape down to the front where the largest ones land right at the collarbone. The faces alternate satin and high polish, which is why it flickers link to link instead of glaring all at once.

Napier started in 1878 as the E. A. Bliss Company in North Attleboro, Massachusetts, making gilt watch chains for men. Chain was the first thing the house knew how to do. A hundred and ten years later it was still the thing it did best.

The clasp is the tell. It hides inside a link so the chain reads unbroken all the way around, and it is stamped with its patent number, 4,774,743. That patent was filed for Napier in July of 1987 and granted in October of 1988, which means this necklace cannot be older than that. Someone at the Meriden plant thought hard enough about a closure to patent it. The Meriden plant closed in 1999. Not much was still being made this way by then.

Wear it on a bare neck or over a black turtleneck. It does not need a pendant. It is the pendant.

Details

• Signed Napier, stamped PAT. 4,774,743 on the clasp
• Gold tone, graduated flat curb links
• Alternating satin and polished faces
• Concealed patented snap lock clasp built into a link
• 1988 or later, from Napier's Meriden years
• Excellent vintage condition, links tight and even, finish bright

Wear it to remember: the weight is the point.

One of one. When she's gone, she's gone.