some jewelry questions

[maltby]

I'm visiting with my mom this weekend, last week I posted about some (maybe) bakelite and here are some interesting things we found in an old jewelry box this week!

1. the pink strand has little knotted strings between each one and belonged to my great grandmother
2. green starnd also was her's, it is green with little flecks of blue in the beads
3. the lady's face on a silver brooch was also her's
4. the two black circles on a pin- same
5. the red necklace with tiny flowers in between is from Italy from my grandmother's trip there. My mom thinks from the 50s
6. the rooster pin was my great grandmothers, she lived in Boston and this one has markings on the very back - seems to say 193
7. the large sparkly brooch was a dress piece that my grandmother repurposed into a pin

oh and the one bar pin my mom thinks is "paste" which I guess means its bad quality!

I think thats all of them! If anyone has any observations if any of this stuff is anything more than just fun costume jewelry (which would be fun enough for me!) I'd be curious for sure!

thanks in advance

 

[Metro Retro Vintage]

Hi Maltby -- I'm bumping this up for the jewelry people to see.

The green necklace looks like Peking Glass and are likely Czech beads. Love the Nouveau lady -- I would guess revival, and the pretty red stone filigree piece looks like silver and carnelian from here.

I really like that Rooster pin. Reminds me of those Nordic style pieces copied by U.S. firms, but hard to tell. If you can get a better idea of the mark, or perhaps try to show a well lit close-up of the mark, it might help.

The squarish beads appear to have some blemishes, and I'm thinking they're stone -- possibly rhodochrosite, but again just a guess and hopefully someone will know.

The double circle pin looks like a wonderful silver and Pietra Dura piece. And nice pot metal pieces as well. Be sure to check the dress clip closely and see if any marks.

 

[Linn]

Lovely collection and wonderful for you to have pieces that belonged to your great grandmother! Paste does not mean "poor quality" - it is a name originally given to pieces of costume jewelry as opposed to "fine jewelry" that meant that the stones were actually made of a paste like substance. Later - it referred to costume jewelry pieces with (usually) clear rhinestone stones - but it could also refer to "costume" pieces - often set in Sterling.

Your pieces date from the 1920's - 1950's. When was your great grandmother born and when did she pass away? I agree with Laura's that the green beads are Peking glass; the red bracelet looks like carnellian; the square stone necklace does look like real stonel the bar pin looks like it might be the earliest - C. 1920's. I agree with Pietra Dura for the double black pin in the shape of a circle with inlaid stones and the dress clip could be signed - it looks like it might be an early Trifari - see if it is signed KTF or has a number on it somewhere. It's C. 1930's. The large rhinestone brooch set in potmetal might have a signature on the cartouche below the pin stem - check to see it it does.

Thank you for sharing these pieces!

Linn

 

[maltby]

wow such great info! and I've got my mom pretty interested in all this too- more photos likely to follow!!

Here's some more info I know about the various pieces as well as who they belonged to!

I looked at the clip and all I can find is the #48. The rooster pin has 123 Sterling stamped on the bottom and something on the top also stamped that looks like 405.

The Pietra Dura pin belonged to my great Granny Carter – b. 10/9/1882 d. 2/28/58)

Most of the rest of the stuff belonged either to my grandmother b. 1/18/16d.5/6/87, or to HER mother (the green beads definitely ) b.12/20/1884 d. 7/18/60.

AND I know that the red 'bracelet' is really a necklace and my great grandmother brought it to my grandmother from a trip to Italy in the 50's.

The large round diamond-y pin was originally a button (from a set of buttons) on a dress of my grandmother's from the 30's.

As I type this my mom is texting me more fun stuff to share so I will post it here today!

thanks so much everyone, this is really fascinating!

 

[maltby]

as mentioned, here are some more neat things for looking at- if anyone has any thoughts on them they would be much appreciate too!

what I know about them:

1. the two cherub pins belonged to my great grandmother (no marks noted on them) so she would have been alive late 1800s to 1950s

2. the earrings we think belonged to aunt Bertha (1877-1970) - they have a small pearl on top

3. the bracelet we have no idea where it came from but think also belong to great grandmother Alling (same as cherub pins)

4. my mom thinks the (bad pic) baby pin is a Tiffany pin but we aren't positive, it was a gift to her mom when she was born (45)

5. the watch and the sapphire bracelet belonged to aunt bertha too, her husband apparently "had some money" and she loved sapphires so he got her the bracelet and the watch we don't know much except it belonged to her!

any thoughts obv welcomed, so fun to see what people think!

 

[Linn]

Hi Maltby -

Thank you for sharing more of your family's jewelry. It's a little easier to help if you start a new post when you have additional pieces you'd like to ask about.

I think the dress clip you showed that has the number 48 on it might be an early Trifari. Can you show the back of it in the closed position, please?

My thoughts on the new pieces that you added are that the watch and the bracelet are Art Deco and are either very late 1920's or early 1930's. The sapphires and diamonds on both might be "real" and it might be set in platinum or white gold - or it could be costume. You might want to ask a jeweler. You should look for marks on both of them.

The other bracelet and the cherub pins that belonged to your great grandmother look earlier and I can't tell about the earrings. The top part with the pearl looks like onyx but I'm not sure about the other part. Can you show the backs? It's a good idea to show the backs and the catches, etc. when you ask about jewelry because they give lots of clues!


Thanks!

 

[Pinkcoke]

My art deco watch that is not dissimilar to yours opens at the 6 o'clock end of the case, the decorated crystal cover lifts up and you can see the enamel face, the entire movement is attached to the back of the face, so you can try, very carefully, to lift this out, either by seeing if it will fall out easily into your opposite palm, or putting one finger nail at the top just under the edge, and thumb at the bottom, and gently ease it out. My watch had a wealth of information inside through the marks stamped or scratched onto the inside of the case and the back of the movement, including a hallmark for the silver case, giving a date of manufacture (1929/30), the country of origin, export and the maker.
the clasp on mine was also marked for the metal content (18K) so it is worth looking carefully, inside and out on this.

 

[maltby]

thanks again for all this input- super interesting

regarding the watch - got it open really easily. On back of case: 187H)(W) - there are some small scratches on the lower right of case that look like they were put there on purpose and there is also the number 005L3

On the movement: (H) (W) Wheeler and SEVENTEEN – there are more marks but just too small for me to see even with magnifying glass.

Found marks on the pearl and sapphire bar pin but too small for me to be able to see.

On the sapphire bracelet is stamped on clasp PLAT ON 14K. There are other marks on the other side of the clasp but again too small for me!

very interesting info!

 

[Pinkcoke]

Nice, Seventeen stands for seventeen jewels, if you saw the movement is is those tiny rubies set in the mechanism. I can foward you the details of the silver makers mark collector who investigated my watch if you like, he was excellent help.
Plat on 14K should be Platnium plated 14K gold but to confirm this it would need to be tested or have hallmarks (possibly the smaller ones you couldn't read).