Pins & Earrings - Marcasite, Cut Steel, or ?

I know what marcasite looks like, and I know what cut steel looks like, but for some reason, the more I look at these the more tangled my brain gets and I can't decide what I'm looking at. The backs on all 3 look newer than the fronts, so maybe they were recycled from buttons with the shanks removed? I'll label them A, B, & C.

A.





B.




C.

.

 

Will see what the others say, but all look like steels to me. Think your idea that they used to be buttons is a good one. All from the same source?

 

Thanks Bronwen.

Yes, I believe they all came from the same lot.

 

I'd say cut steel, possibly copper, and molded glass - all escaped buttons converted into jewelry.

 

I don't think cut steel, but as evelyb said, a coppery metal and molded material.

 

I couldn't see the forest for the trees.

I was so busy looking at the front of the earrings that if I had just flipped them over and actually really looked at the back I would have realized it was molded glass (it's cool to the touch, so I do believe it likely to be glass rather than some other material). I guess my mind was on some sort of carved stone.

Thanks Bronwen, Evelyb, & AnyJewelry.

 

Are A & B glass disks with applied metal accents or all glass, with metallic paint? Enlarging the earrings, C, they are pretty clearly glass, sort of a 'French jet' look. Good eye training.

 

They're all buttons with the shanks cut off, designed to look like cut steel - first two are stamped brass, the first looks like it might have a painted steel background, the second with a celluloid background and separate metal disc (probably aluminum) under the applied center piece, the earrings are silver luster glass, almost certainly Czech...

~Cheryl

 

The center on 'B' does look like copper under worn silver plate...

~Cheryl

 

A & B are disks with metal accents slipped over the front. Unlike the earrings, I don't think the backs are actually glass but rather black painted metal. I think I can see some very small spots where the black paint is worn down to the metal, plus the backs aren't as shiny as glass would be.

Definitely good eye training!

 

Thanks for the input Cheryl. I've heard of luster glass, but I don't think I have seen silver luster glass, so that would have never occurred to me and is a great descriptive to use for the listing.

Thanks everyone!

 

Heh, been playing with buttons since I was a kid - it's what we collectors call it (there's gold luster, and other colors too)...

~Cheryl

 

I love older buttons but don't have a collection per se. Since I've never had the time to organize them, I've done little research to understand the materials that some are made of. I still find it fascinating to find older ones though.