Today was very cold (for Central Florida) - about 37 degrees when we started out.  It's really hard to get enthusiastic about spending time digging through tray after tray of goodies when you are shivering so hard you keep dropping things!  Tomorrow is not going to be any warmer, but I will be prepared!  I dug out my long johns!  Yep, found those a few years ago when we had a particularly cold winter.

A lot of new "snowbird" vendors are setting up at our two favorite markets now, which makes it difficult to decide how much you want to spend with any particular vendor when you first get there.  Because who knows what goodies may be just waiting down at the end of the last row!  Having a set budget does not help.  Today was not hard as so many vendors decided to either get a very late start or just stay home under the quilts rather than brave the cold.  But Ken and I both still came home with a number of goodies.

Today, one of my favorite pieces was an Art Deco bug brooch, a bee or a fly.  This little critter has one of my favorite cabochons - the Dragons Breath jelly opal.  In my research I find that these stones were created in Czechoslovakia.  A bit of metal was added to the molten art glass to give the pieces the "flash" or blue color in the amber/orange colored glass.  As you turn the glass, flashes of brilliant blue sparkle like lightening inside.

There are several names for these stones, including Mexican opals, jelly opals, chameleon glass and, my favorite and the one that is most popular for them, Dragons Breath.  They will always be unfoiled.  Most of the Dragons Breath stones are set in sterling but every once in a while you will come across a much older unique piece set in brass, such as this one.

So, when you are out treasure hunting, keep an eye out for these Bohemian beauties.  You will soon become obsessed with "finding the flash"!