Is this pin anything?

wire9vintage

wire9vintage

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There are no markings at all, it's fairly light in weight, and the size of a quarter. Anything? I like her regardless! Oh, notice the little bit on her head piece, that tiny bit is slightly raised and appears to be hand-painted. Don't know about the rest of it.
 
It's a painted porcelain and a C clasp with indicates an old piece. C clasps were replaced by locking clasps around the turn of the century (1900) so you see them less and less often as time goes by. Most C clasp brooches I see are at least 100 years old. The portrait is sweet and has a "Josephine" feel to it although thats just the look. I don't think the piece actually dates to the Napolean era..

Melody
 
Thank you so much, Melody! I remember reading something here before about C clasps, but just the look of this spoke to me out of a pile of junk! I'll put a little more faith in my taste!

In an Internet search, I see several like this, and see that it is probably a brass backing. Also, does anyone recognize the flower design on the back? These appear to have been in vogue circa 1900.

I learn something new every day in this business! What fun!
Thanks!
Elizabeth
 
I haven't seen a brooch with that pretty flower-stamped back--it's lovely!

If you look at the portrait of the woman through a loupe or other strong magnification, you can verify whether its a transfer or a handpainted portrait (in general more valuable, since it's essentially a miniature work of art!)

In contrast to the (irregularly placed) brush marks of something handpainted, a transfer has a regular pattern of dots over the surface (though, to complicate matters, sometimes brush strokes are placed on top of those, to make the portrait appear hand-done!)

It looks like a variation on a cameo habille, which showed an idealized woman wearing jewelry (a pendant "necklace" with a rhinestone or diamond in it, or "earrings").
 
Some nice terms for me to continue to research! Thanks so much for all the information. I am not a jewelry person, but this little lady looking coyly up at me from the tray in the Goodwill this morning just had to come home with me. I'm glad she did, as this as turned into a really fun little research project for me!

Now...where did I put that loupe I had all those years ago?
 
You can also look at it more closely, if your picture was in focus (you will soon find out if it wasn't, compare a few), by zooming in on a high pixel photo, if your camera wasn't already put it on the highest setting and take another one then bring it up on your computer to look at it.
 
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