Atoms necklace

Renk says she wasn't consciously thinking of the atomic symbol when she designed the six-lobed shapes that dot this necklace in 1954.  But that was one year after the Soviet Union detonated its first atomic bomb, and nuclear fear and fascination were in the air.  Renk's customers immediately called the design "atoms," so she followed suit.  Actually, the necklace is inspired by chains worn by sixteenth-century English King Henry VIII in his formal portraits.  Renk never claimed the necklace was a political statement, but the design does cleverly associate atomic energy with symbols of power.