These bangles are popular versions of the strong "cocktail" style of 1940s jewellery, incorporating characteristic details
of "gas-hose" springy coiled goldwork and ball-bearing terminals, embedded with stones. Machines and their components
provided the strongest influence on this wartime style which
began to emerge in 1937, evolving from and reacting against Art Deco and modernism of the 1920s and 30s. 1940s jewellery
was bold and extravagant which contrasted with the more controlled schemes of modernism. This new style relied on expanses of rich gold, buttery yellow or rose pink, wrought into chunky mechanical motifs, assembled to incorporate bold movement, and softened with stylized drapery motifs and sprinklings of sapphires and rubies