Silver spoon-shaped hairpin which is decorated with magpies and branches of plum flowers. Magpies (xique) and plum blossoms (mei) result in the pun ‘May your joy reach up to your eyebrows’ (xishang meishao). Plum flowers represent the Five Blessings (see 4093) and magpies symbolize Joy & Happiness. The hairpin is marked but we can’t properly make out the characters. The workmanship is simple and we therefore believe that it dates to the early Republic period (1912 – 1947). Length 6.0 cm. Width 1.8 cm.