This stuff is from an interesting, if short-lived spot in one of the Jewish neighbourhoods this summer. The collection above probably went from a junk box right into the trash. There are plenty of fun pieces here, including: a bird off a Napoleonic cartridge pouch, an 1886 silver Swiss franc, a bronze-looking pin commemorating the 50th anniversary of the massacres of Jews at Babi Yar, and an old Jewish medallion (like this one). The most interesting might be the key fob for the Athenee Palace hotel in Bucharest, which is described on Wikipedia as “arguably Europe’s most notorious den of spies” from its opening in 1914 to the end of the Cold War. Judging by its heavy brass construction and the way the room number is pressed into the metal, my guess is that this fob is from the early years.
Otherwise, I picked up some bigger brass items, like that ornate oil lamp and some bookends from Jerusalem. I also found some older skullcaps, one of which has a Soviet-era tag. Both my mom and I have done research on the latter. She thinks they’re from Central Asia generally but are not Jewish in particular, while I suspect that given the rest of the Jewish stuff it’s more likely that they have some relation to that community, maybe Bukharan Jews in particular given their larger size. If anyone knows their kippahs, maybe they can chime in and let us know what they think.
Your work connects (or re-connects) all of us readers with so many important historical events! I had never heard about the horrendous Babi Yar massacres in Kyiv, for example. Deep breath in. Deep breath out. Thank you for all that you and your mother continue to do!
I hadn’t heard of it either. Digging deeper, I was surprised how many Holocaust deaths (apparently 30-35% of deaths) involved simply rounding up and shooting people.