Mark Help: Sterling Dragonfly Brooch

Good morning jewelies!

My mother handed me this brooch to research, it was my grandmother's in the US. We don't know when she got it but she loved sterling and picked it up when she could, so this is possibly a thrift store find etc.

I found an exact match in an Etsy listing which I've linked below, rather than dealing with massive photos (unless desired?)


What's interesting is this listing's brooch has marks, mine only has the 925 stamp. It is otherwise identical in every way, so I don't know if the other marks got polished off?

Other thing is, I can't read the marks and this is the only photo I have. Does anyone recognise this right off the bat or will this require more research?

https://www.etsy.com/fr/listing/126...vDj8SV3gKYs_swsNyf5PiJ1Y0_nxnc4oaAncKEALw_wcB

Thanks! ​

 

The one in the listing is lovely, but we will want to see pictures of yours, Rachel.

 

Rachel-Our Members will always want to see as many pertinent pics ads possible of the actual item (esp jewelry).Tiny differences can make a huge difference re evaluation/provenance.

 

If it's any help, I have the same Mexican dragonfly brooch somewhere in my stash, and can recall seeing them at retail in the 1980s-90s - were likely produced by more than one maker, but usually marked 'CII' or 'C11', never tracked down the maker, but didn't try very hard...

~Cheryl

 

Understood! Here's some photos of mine then
​

 

I usually do try to get as many pics as possible, I had only my phone at the time and I guess I was feeling a little lazy Will make sure to go all the way next time

So its Mexican then, interesting Cheryl, thank you! I'll try to keep that mark in mind but I doubt I'll find much of it here in france haha

 

u like it when we go all the way........

we appreciate it when u go all the way , too !

 

Fair. I've not figured out how to email the photos to myself on my phone so it was going to be a lot of fiddling. No disrespect meant

 

none taken..........

 

Fashionable and attractive jewellery was often copied, and dragonfly jewellery has been very popular for a long time. If it doesn't have recognizable Mexican marks, unfortunately you can't say for sure that it is Mexican, even if it looks like a Mexican piece.

 

Sorry, didn't check back - AJ is absolutely right, with just that '925', the origin of the piece will remain unknown...

~Cheryl

 

Aw thats a shame, but to be expected I suppose! My grandparents lived in San Diego for many years so it could well be Mexican, but it could easily be something else entirely!

For informations sake, why would someone copy a well known item or mark in sterling, rather than in a non precious metal that makes more sense?Thanks for taking a look, appreciate it!

 

How would non-precious make more sense?
If people want a silver dragonfly, they'll look for a silver dragonfly, not a non-precious one.
There are of course non-precious dragonfly brooches, just like there are non-precious bee, fly, etc brooches.

 

I suppose I'm thinking in terms of a 'knock off' of a fancier piece, which would generally be targeted to a wider audience and therefore not be as pricey and so not silver. If its still sterling a copy of a good mark would still fetch some money, so I guess I don't see much of a point to copy it so identically? The etsy listing is the exact same, just mine is missing the marks, so I guess it doesn't really make sense to me. The silver content is the same and therefore the only value lost is that of the original maker. Doesn't seem profitable! Unless its a hobbyist or small business...

 

It is not a copy of a good mark, it is a popular design that was made by several makers around the world.
Dragonfly jewellery became hugely popular during the Art Nouveau period, and has remained popular since.

Assuming there is an original maker with a famous name.
As far as we know the one in the Etsy listing is not by a famous maker. The seller hasn't listed it as such. Besides, they never cleaned the mark, so we have no idea. The value they put on it is clearly not based on a famous name, otherwise they would have cleaned the mark and put the name in the title.
I think the asking price is ambitious, but if they are able to sell it for that price, why not give yours a try for the same price, if you want to sell.

 

There's little in difference in value, unless someone specifically collects Mexican silver, and while there are a number of wonderful Mexican makers and designers, much of it is derivative, with near identical or very similar pieces produced by different makers (the reason I seldom bother researching an unknown mark on a common piece). This brooch design is fairly common, there are several Mexican-made pieces on eBay at the moment, starting at around $40. (would guess bearing more than one maker's mark)...

~Cheryl

 

Thanks very much for all the info! I'm making several mental notes haha. My mom isn't interested in selling but its nice to know the ballpark if that ever changed. Appreciate all your time and thoughts!