I was able to buy the remaining stock from someone who made these needles for a while, and they are finally all sorted, polished, and ready to be sold.
Making needles such as these, I've been told, is not easy - there's a lot of breakage when the eye is punched in, for instance.
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Closeup of the needle eyes. That's one of the reasons the needlemaker stopped doing this, so the small stock I have of these needles are all that remain, and probably all there will be. So, like so often when I get my hands on remaining stock, I'm all torn between happiness that I have at least a few of the wonderful items, and sadness that these are the last, and there will be no more of it in the future.
For now, though, there are needles - and I am very happy about that!