Minnesota-born Noma Copley lived in Belgium in the 1930s, at the height of the Surrealist art movement. After World War II she returned to Europe and settled in Paris. She married William Copley, with Man Ray serving as the best man in their wedding. During their years in Paris, the couple befriended many Surrealist artists and later owned an important collection of Surrealist art. The effect of these relationships and her close connection to the artwork of the 1930s is seen in this design. In 1967, at age fifty, Copley began making and designing jewelry. In 1975, New York Magazine described her as having "emerged from the Paris world of surrealist painters five years ago to become one of New York's most original jewelry designers." Copley aimed to transform everyday objects such as buttons, bolts, keys, and bars of soap into wearable symbols of the domestic realm. Made in a precious material such as gold, the simplest utilitarian item became a witty sculpture. Here Copley elevates the #2 pencil into a gold bangle with a red coral eraser at one end and a steel point at the other.

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