The above collection was recently separated from the Ethnology Department and its items came to the Museum in many different ways, mostly as gifts or through purchase. One of the criteria for acquisition of items was that the specimen were either made or used in the region of Novi Pazar and its surroundings.
Bearing in mind that these are artistically embellished works of craftsmanship, it is worthy to mention that, in the past, Novi Pazar was renowned as a city of craftsmen and tradesmen. From the travel writers of the 16th and 17th century we have learnt more about numerous and versatile crafts which had placed Novi Pazar among the most developed cities in the Balkans, which is particularly true for the time of so-called Turkish Period when Novi Pazar, in addition to being a very important trade centre, was also a very important crafts centre.

Collection of applied arts covers the time period from the 16th century to the first half of the 20th century, and, for the most part, includes goldsmith and coppersmith products: jewels, decorative dishes, religious objects, wall clocks and watches.

The goldsmiths during the 17th and 18th century were present in Novi Pazar and they made and repaired gold and silver jewels. Plentiful minerals found in the region of old Ras, particularly in the mines on Rogozna, influenced that in Novi Pazar develops the domestic metallurgy whose feature characteristic was making of different objects. It is possible that the jewels from the Coffers from Trnava Village near Novi Pazar were made in a goldsmith workshop in Novi Pazar and it includes: 14 decorative pins, two pairs of earrings, a ring, a pearl necklace, a button, a pendant, and 30 coins that were used as a necklace.

All above items from the Coffers date back to the 17th century and their dating was much facilitated by the string of Dubrovnik money. The latest money in the string dates back to 1677 and that means that it could not been placed there before that time.

Based on the amount of jewels from the coffers and its content, we can presume that this was a part of the bride’s dowry, namely the female jewels of one person or maybe, several members of a family.

Affection for the jewels, which was particularly obvious in wealthier social classes, encouraged the goldsmiths to invest in making of these items all their craftsmanship and creative imagination. This is especially related for the jewels made by the forging and filigree techniques although other techniques were represented as well. Many generations of anonymous authors have participated in making and shaping of objects in this craft and each of them contributed to the artistic expression.

Authors of these products were anonymous goldsmiths and silversmiths, from the beginning of the century, raised to the level of the artistic craft. That is not reducing artistic criteria, their beauty, the versatility, and it is showing the skill, knowledge and talent of dexterous craftsmen who created them.

One of the outstanding Novi Pazar goldsmiths, Mr. Nikola Vuletić, on the occasion of the official opening of the Museum in 1973, donated to the Museum a collection of goldsmith and silversmith products for permanent proper. There are placed five tepeluks (head decorations), three bracelets, decorative hat pin, a case for Koran, pafte (buckles) and kolan (massive belt buckles), an oil box, a medal and an amulet.

An exceptionally beautiful item in this collection is ćustek, a chain for watch carried by man. It is a thicker chain whose one end is to be attached to the waistcoat lapel, and then it stretches over the chest and with its other end is tied to the watch that is put into the waistcoat pocket. Ćustek consists of three parts. The first part presents a stand which on one end splits into two members with grommet and buckle. The second part is composed of two parallel stands carrying filigree flowers with granules and corals. On its end is a medallion with a hook on which the chain can be hung. In between are three balls, each adorned with two filigree calottes. It was made in the filigree and granulation technique. The size and intricacy of ćustek revealed, the same as watches did, the status of its owner.

Collecting the material concerning the territory it covers, the 'Ras' Museum has created quite big collection of the 19th century jewels that belonged to more respectable families of that time. Both in their workmanship and shape, most of the jewels specimen in this collection clearly reflect the strong oriental influence.

In addition to the aesthetic value, jewels had a usable function. It served with clothing as of a button or belt buckle, sometime to hold hair or to be a consisting part of a quilt on the women’s heads. The value of our jewels collection encounters in its stylistic and aesthetic characteristics, but also in its comprehensiveness, considering that all kinds of jewels are represented.

In the applied arts collection the attention is especially drawn, because of its kind and size, to the collection of folk jewels that was worn with the traditional folk clothes and it is consist of: earrings, dangle earrings, rings, pins, brooches, pendants, necklaces, bracelets, kolans, paftas, ćusteks, and watches. Jewels were made in silver, bras, and alpaca gilded in the techniques of casting, forging, filigree, and granulation.

The most numerous and the most versatile type of jewellery in the collection are the rings from the period between the 16th and the 19th century. A jewel which was made in this period even it had roots in the medieval shapes was adapted to the oriental taste. The collection host filigree rings, stolovat rings (amulet rings to which magic medicinal properties were attributed) and signet rings.

Bracelets were favourite jewels among female population. They were of different shapes and made from different materials.

An integral part of traditional folk clothes were paftas, usually silver ones elaborately decked out with herbal and geometrical ornaments. The collection also host several tepeluks, a characteristic decoration worn on the head. Tepeluk was consisted of a smaller calotte made from felt, usually red in colour, to which silver rosette intricately decorated in filigree and granulation was attached. Around the lower edge of the rosette there were several concentric garlands of little coins.

The collection of dishes, the works of the coppersmiths, includes glasses, bowls, trays, and utensils and according to them we get an interesting picture objects which were used in the middle of the 19th century in our households in our environment. The most of these, different objects, according to way of its decoration are wearing the symbol of oriental style.

The collection of religious objects is consist of amulets, crosses, censers, cressets, shackles for Koran.
Wall clocks and watches have a special place in this collection. Even though their function was primarily practical, watches were also carried as an adornment. The collection consists of twenty watches, mainly made in silver and enamelled.