Featured Is this an Eagle or Minerva? Gold Hallmark Resources?

AJ beat me to it

 

what fool thought marks like this were a good idea ??

 

I see the middle part of the eagle's head, facing right!

 

Honestly that's my query too! And of course I live in France so I'm destined to always be tortured by this insanity

That's what I thought too! If it is French, then it'll be 18k, as that's what I read French law dictates for jewelry, even back in the day. If I'm not mistaken.

 

I'm skeptical of Wikihow too, rather than it being confirmed gold, it was more like I confirmed it wasn't a base or lightweight metal. Though the magnet was more reliable...

 

The magnet test only proves that an item is magnetic or not, but there are many non-magnetic metals.

 

That too lol

 

The magnet can tell what it is NOT - not precious metal. If a piece is attracted, it definitely is not precious, if not attracted, the test continues

 

I took it to someone who was doing a tour of the region doing estimates for one of those dealer/scrap companies. I went just to confirm the gold content, and it tested as 18k. Yippee! Not bad for 50 cents

He scratched it and I died inside, but it didn't leave anything noticable phew..

 

Rachel, congrats! Very nice find! Even if not gold, it is very beautiful on its own but now it becomes even more precious.
Why did he scratch it? They usually rub the piece on the testing stone and then test the trace on the stone.

 

Congratulations -- Good for you!

 

Great find!!! Hallmarked French 18K jewelry should sell for higher than scrap pretty easily I’d think. Brooches aren’t the fastest seller ever but I can’t imagine it would be hard to get 20-25% over scrap without much trouble or time elapsed. Possibly a decent amount more. If it were mine I’d price it at double its scrap value at leas to start. If you have an ebay account it’s very much worth a shot unless you need cash yesterday.

 

Goodness I'm just the worst aren't I! The family hasn't been particularly well lately and we had a week long festival we've only just recovered from haha!

Thank you very much for the congratulations all around, I'm quite pleased! I'm not looking to sell just yet, my father's convinced me to stash it for a rainy day and I think that's quite wise. But I thank you Dagger for your comment! That's a great starting point for when I do eventually sell. Its not my style so it will go eventually.

Yes he rubbed it the point of it. I had handed him the pin to test that since the marks were on it, but he ignored that haha. I see he did that since the pin could have been replaced, but I was very uncomfortable. He didn't seem much interested in any marks at all, only a large magnifying glass and his testing kit. Makes sense I suppose, but I was hoping for a confirmation of the marks perhaps. Ah well! Perhaps that's a jeweler's job.

What was rather odd was when he looked at my 925/14k tie clip I put in another thread somewhere. He immediately dismissed it as plate because it had 'wear', I got it home and it wiped away easily. No wear at all, just tarnish. To be fair it was rather convincing, but I thought it odd he didn't try to rub it at all.

Completely off topic but while I'm on the subject of that visit, I also took a bracelet stamped 925, and a small necklace. The necklace tested as 925, but he said the bracelet was plated because it didn't react as much. Does this mean a fake 925 stamp? Or was it because he tested part of the chain and not one of the beads? I'm still confused about that.

 

Maybe he didn't rub enough silver on the stone?
Could you post a photo of the bracelet?

 

Rachel, unfortunately I don't know anything about testing, just went a couple of times to a local jeweller and watched him testing and commenting. He rightly guessed the pieces I brought him before testing but still did the testing and it confirmed his guess so I assume he knows his job and therefore trust him. One of the chains was plated gold (or washed??) and he warned me that testing would probably peel some of the coating but I needed to know so I allowed it. It indeed peeled the gold coating on the spot of rubbing but it is visible only under magnification.

Judging by this experience I guess that if it is plated, it should look different on the spot of rubbing under big magnification. So if you look at this spot under a loupe, you may be able to see if some coating is missing and another substance is visible under it.

Just a thought, maybe totally irrelevant as there are different types of gold or silver plating with different thickness, and maybe not all of them will behave in this way when rubbed for testing.

 

Here we are! Finally got a photo, I thought I had one already but I didn't. I'm not sure what the rust color is on some of the beads, but everything else looks normal to me. He rubbed one of the links.

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Good idea! I'll have a look!

 

It looks like it could be plated. The 925 label is a separate one, which could have been added later. So my guess is that the label is sterling, but the bracelet is plated.
But let's wait for more eyes.

 

Ah drat The clasp does have the same sort of look as the label, but I'll have to look more closely. I only paid a euro so if it is plated no harm done, but looks like I can't trust tags haha.