Brooch with garnet or rubys and Pearl?

This is for sale locally for $80. Looks nice. There’s a mark on the bottom right of back in the photo I can’t make out. Looks like maybbeeee 800 for gilt silver. $80 is too much to gamble. Doesn’t look enough like gold for that. Any thoughts on it? Does that look like a Pearl in the center or a Diamond like stone? Where may it be from? Anyone else think it could be .800? I know it’s very hard to see. These are best pics.

 

Photo not in focus,can't even guess what they are.

 

Probably garnets. The brooch has been repaired at least once, so I'd bet it's older than advertised. The ribbon thing I'd associate with late 40s jewelry, but others may know if the Victorians and earlier used it too. If it's legit OLD the gold may have tarnished, epsecially if worn around raw onions. They give off a chemical when being cut that can tarnish metals, including the mixer metals in 10-14k. My guess though is gold-washed silver.

 

I know they are horrible. I asked for better pics and the new pics were even worse.

 

The more I looked at it the flower and leaves look more gold like than the rest. Maybe just the way the light hits it though. Where is the repair?

 

My immediate reaction was gilt stamped brass. But pix so dreadful, really not much confidence in that judgement.

 

That once had a hinge clasp. Overpriced, I'd say.

 

My Schwäbisch Gmünd pendant:



Description in my post #18308:

https://www.antiquers.com/threads/finds-thread.137/page-916#post-715014

I can't say for sure that the one you posted is gold and garnets, but it could be.

I now have matching earrings as well. And a few brooches.

 

yer collection of things......gets nicer with each passing day !!!

 

Local enough to go and look?

This!. Every time!
I see rubbish photos, ask for better ones and they are even worse! I rarely bother asking now it’s so predictable.

 

If only I could wear them all at the same time.
(Not the keris etc)

 

My gut tells me gold filled and garnets.

Usually when I find an older piece like that with a closed back it turns out to be gold filled. When the back is open it is most often gold. I could be totally wrong about this, but so far, in my humble experience, I find it to be true.

Examples of what I am talking about:

 

Good to know!

 

I know it’s impossible. It really looks to me like a purity stamp of some kind. It could be just a makers mark I guess. If purity my guess is that it’s at least .800 silver. May not even be a mark and be brass though.

 

Beautiful!! Thanks to the Schwäbisch Gmünd term

 

Unfortunately no. I did ask if she has more antique jewelry and she said yes but not ready to part with it.

It really is true about the photos. Literally almost every time they are worse, it’s uncanny.

I pointed the maybe mark out and asked for a magnified photo of it and I feel like that may have caused a retreat to get it better checked out. All good if so because I wasn’t going to gamble that much on a guess anyway so it was worth a shot. We shall see.

 

That’s entirely sensible and your experience is valuable. If you have enough of it you can’t rely on anything more than your own experience.

 

Backs were usually closed to give strength to a piece, especially if that piece was made from a thin sheet of metal, which Biedermeier pieces usually were. Remember this was before the extensive gold mining of the late 19th and 20th century, so gold was scarce.

In general, the choice of closed/partially closed back or open back depends on period, style and region. These factors, and the combination of the three, are something you have to take into account when assessing jewellery. Closed or not is never a way to tell gold from gilded, bonded, or base metal. If a piece isn't marked, testing is the only way.

The pieces you showed are excellent examples of how two very different styles are constructed differently, and how a part open setting accomodates a stone, whereas a piece without a stone doesn't need an open back.
The lovely pendant has a partial closed back, it is not open. It only has an opening behind the stone, which the Schwäbisch Gmünd style doesn't need. Their garnets are too small, and the silver setting is already intended to give a clear look to the stones.
Btw, 10k wouldn't be considered gold in many countries, but that is another discussion.

The brooch J Dagger posted is South German Biedermeier.
I have handled countless German Biedermeier pieces, and a closed back does not indicate which metal was used.
Most German Biedermeier pieces have a gold front and a gold plated silver (partial) back, like my pendant has. But some are gold all over, and some are gold plated silver all over.
Pinchbeck or similar metals are rarely found in this style. I have never come across one, which doesn't mean they were never made.