My maternal grandmother had one precious silver hairpin which she brought from China. It was probably given to her by a Lau relative later in life. She wore a silver ring which helped her in home treatments of fever. As she was a child bride she did not bring any jewellery from her Tiong family.
Throughout her life she did not buy much silver ornaments. However she visited goldsmiths to buy gold ornaments as wedding gifts and a few silver bracelets and anklets for babies.
But she and I made the rounds of visiting silversmiths and goldsmiths in Sibu. Ah all those glittering ornaments stay in my mind.
Her most precious gold ornaments which never left her body were her gold earrings and her gold bangle (which she later endowed to her third daughter in law, Wong Nguk Ling). She was not a jade bracelet wearer.
Silver was a valuable possession to the Ibans and other ethnic groups of Sarawak. In particular the Ibans bought a lot of silver jewellery for their women. Iban women's head dress, necklaces, and belts and other ornaments were all traditionally silver. But unfortunately over the last half century many longhouses were burnt and almost all their silver ornaments were melted by the various fires. I know of a few families who lost thousands of ringgits worth of silverware and gold in the longhouse fires. It is a great pity that such valuable antiques should be lost in this way.
Thefts too have caused many Iban families to lose their valuables.
When times were good many Iban men and women would approach the silversmiths of Sibu to make special items for them. Sugu Tinggi (Maiden's Head gear), rawai (silver corset) and silver belts are among some of the favourite items the Chinese silversmith could patiently make. Thus the Chinese silversmiths did a roaring trade before the 1960's. Many of the silvermiths' shops were along Channel Road, easily accessible to the Ibans who came down from Kapit, Song and Kanowit, or from down river from Bawang Assan.
Some of the old shops along Channel Road, sold both silver and gold ornaments like Mee Hua,Tien Hua (Chung family) Ing Hua and Teck Ho.
Examples of precious Silver items:
a) Special silver belt
b) special silver belt and buckle
c) Iban corsets or rawai and other silver ornaments
But alas, today their business is on the decline due to many economic and social factors.
(Photos from Google)
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