Small silver hairpin decorated with swastikas. Unlike in the West where the swastika takes us back to a dark period in European history, the swastika is a symbol of Good Luck in Asia. The pronunciation of the word for swastika, ‘Wan’ sounds like the Chinese word for ‘Ten Thousand’ or ‘Infinity’. The hairpin is marked Xu Yuan Fu (徐元福) who may have been the silversmith or retailer. Under his name is another but different character Yuan (原). It dates from the end of the Qing (1644 – 1912) to the early Republic period (1912 – 1947). Length 8.2 cm. Width 0.8 cm.