Featured Rock crystal and synthetic ? sapphire whatsit - what did it start as?

I found it as shown, sterling chain and all. My gem tester confirms that the etched glass isn't glass and those blue centers ring up sapphire. I'm guessing lab-grown since they're an exact color match. (lab sapphires started in the 1880s if memory serves) But...was this a hat acessory originally or what? It's all one piece with loops on the back. The chain was an add-on to make it useful as a necklace. The rock crystal is carved from both sides, and my guess is that whoever made it cared.

I bought it as a costume hat decoration originally, but guess again.

 

in an unusual way, that's a very interesting

 

I see what looks like camphor glass and go "MINE". Only in this case it wasn't glass.

 

Maybe originally cufflinks but not finished off with metal edges to stop any chipping?

 

Nice find!
I’d not have thought of testing the ‘glass’ as it looks so like camphor glass. Good call

 

I tested the centers first on a hunch and when they went wayyy up the scale, it roused my suspicions about the clear part and... rock crystal or similar.

The edges are faceted so they never had metal around them. Definitely kissing cousins however. This might have had a velvet ribbon in it. Hair ornament?

 

If my memory serves, synthetic red corundum was developed in the late 1800s & became available on the market, mainly for use in watches because the stones were small, in the early 1900s. It took some more years before they figured out how to make blue. I have yet to come across a more accurate date for blue sapphire. A lot of this work was being done in the USSR, so maybe there are Russian language accounts of their development that Google does not show this English speaker. This is what I recall from reading I did trying to get a handle on color change stones.

 

The first synthetic corundum (it was a ruby) was created in 1837. In 1847, the first synthetic blue corundum (artificial sapphire) was produced. But for the first time, a stone suitable for cutting in jewelry was obtained only in 1877.
In Russia, the first industrial artificial corundum was obtained in 1939.

 

Great find. Unusual too.
Does it sit well around your neck? If it does, I imagine it looks stunning.

 

A no-brainer to purchase it. Fabulous quality and obvious age.

That pot metal-like backing is really a mystery. With the loops sticking out every few inches seems it would be less necklace worthy, but with that chain does sort of suggest a necklace.

Ruth, you said it was sold as a "hat decoration". Was it in a small thrift or consignment store where they might have spoken to a former owner who donated it and told them that from family lore? I'm wondering if it was a 100+ year old craft project. Someone took pieces from something else and soldered it together for maybe a flapper headpiece ?? or to go with some kind of hat for a costume?

It's very cool!

 

My knee jerk was they were buttons someone crafted into a necklace.

 

Ah, I hoped to prompt a reply from someone with better access to info on this subject. It puzzles me, though, that corundum crystals large enough to facet & use in jewellery were produced well before industrial grade material came on the market. The usefulness of corundum for cutting & polishing other stones had long been known.

 

OTOH synthetic sapphires and rubies were in common use in jewelry by the early 20s. Deco pieces with calibre-cut stones were generally done with synthetics so they could match sizes and colors easily.

It was sold as a necklace, and it's on a vintage chain and sits OK as a necklace. I thought it was a hat decoration made into a necklace. The backing metal, I just tested it finally, is silver. The curve as it turns out is a perfect fit for my head. I'm betting it had a metal rod that went through the loops or that it was attached to something else somehow. Formal eveningwear would make sense since we have a dead match in those gent's cuff links and buttons. The gent's lady could have worn matching jewelry.

 

I can't see how that hangs well, or is comfy on the neck....

 

It's not horrible; I've worn a LOT worse!

 

that's not a shining endorsement ///....!!!

 

I wonder if that was part of a tiara style band. Those Art Deco hairpieces.

 

That's what I'm thinking. I can see this in someone's marcelled hair pretty easily.

 

Yup, me too. I'd have snarfed that pretty fast.