The World's Most Expensive Plecrums

SWMBO was feeling better today - so we headed off to Pittenweem to the Arts Festival  (this is its 36th year).

The weather started off a bit grey but gradually cleared until it was pretty much wall to wall blue - which always makes the bikes much more colourful.

I like Pittenweem - it is always has a bit of colour about it and the architecture is always worth looking at, even if some of it is in need of some TLC. Sometimes it needs more than a lick of paint.

There are some beautifully tended gardens that you get the chance to see from the houses used as galleries. But sometimes it is natures own wee gardens on the tops of walls and shed roofs that grab the eye.

However, It was (as usual) the work of Master Silversmith James Ward that really grabbed my eye.
I didn't ask him how much the plectrums were, but with them being made of a very expensive metal which he has worked (I understand that some very famous rock rock guitarists are owners).
As usual he had a beautiful bowl made from the same metal (Niobium) which takes weeks to create and decorate by using electricity. Each colour is created with a different voltage and the item being worked on needs to have the colour etched away where it is not wanted and a lower power applied and this is repeated for all the colours. This mean the design has to be very carefully worked out both outside and in because if the wrong colour appears anywhere, there is no going back.
His solid silver animals are quite something too …. like his gorillas and giraffes 
Unfortunately the bowls are way out of my price and with the cost of precious metals climbing all the time even he small pieces I am collecting are getting hard to justify. It didn't stop me getting another one though (I take the chain off and mount them in small frames for the wall) …... this is the back
SWMBO also got a piece - but she will wear it as intended. As you can see there are at least ten different times the piece has been put through the etching and colouring process (this is the back of hers).