Featured 3 Garnet Brooches Age and where they were made Help

Hi,
3 Garnet brooches that I'm trying to figure out when and where they were made.
Any information appreciated.
Thanks for looking
#1 has a 'C' clasp, 1" diameter. No idea what the blob of silver on the back is for

#2 is 2"L, stones are open on the back

#3 is 2 3/4" diameter, the stones are open on the back on this one too.

 

The blob of "silver" looks like lead solder used to repair the center part after it fell apart from the base of the brooch.

 

They are gorgeous! I've never found one at a sale. Can't help with age, but they do look older. Hopefully someone will come along with suggestions.

 

Not an expert, but here's my two cents! C clasps generally date to 1850-1910. The safety clasps with round hinges shown on two of the pins would be from 1930s onward. It's possible these are from Czechoslovakia or Germany.

 

I agree that the 1st one with that C clasp and that style of tube hinge could date from c1850 to 1910. Scroll down to fig.2.

https://www.realorrepro.com/article/Dating-brooch-fasteners

Lovely pieces!

--- Susan

 

Tube hinges date from the same period. The pin on the first one extends quite a bit beyond the clasp. That would certainly make it 19th century.
Maybe the solder blob used to hold a ring, like a bail, for a brooch/pendant combination.

 

The only thing the solder blob is holding is the top half of the pendant.

 

It is now, but it could at one point have attached a ring to the brooch, although it doesn't look original.

 

It's a really old repair. The first one is the oldest for sure, as everyone else already said. Those tube hinge thingies disappeared around 1900 for the most part, but hung on in India and for some traditional Scandinavian jewelry designs well into the 1950s. These are most likely Czech; Bohemian garnet jewelry is famous. That puts the pin back into the 19th century. The other two are considerably later; from the hardware I'd guess post-WWII, fifties maybe.

 

Thanks for all the replies folks, great information!
@VintageKaren After seeing your beautiful pieces that you posted I was hoping I would come across a piece, and then I was lucky enough to find the 3 pieces.

 

Gablonz/Jablonec garnet jewellery, every last one of them. I don't think those last two are post WW2, Ruth, the finesse really went after the war.

 

would the 2 rings on the back of the bottom one....would that have held danglers...

 

No, hitch a chain to for wearing as a pendant thought I haven't seen such rings/loops so far apart.

--- Susan

 

The bottom brooch is questionable,the 2 rings are holding the top and bottom pieces together.The photo is too dark to see what else is happening,the mid sized stones don't appear to be rose cut,the large center stone looks like a round brilliant.

 

I lightened the picture, the stones look like they could be rose cut, although not all Bohemian garnet jewelry used rose cut stones and cabochons, quite a bit had large flat tables.
These should be tested to rule out glass.

 

Thanks bear!
From looking around, seems like many are made the same way. Not for holding anything but the way it was put together. Here are a couple of examples.
http://www.facetsofhistory.com/node/405
https://www.morninggloryjewelry.com/images/copied/imagesLZ/Victorian2/vict38211b.jpg

 

I can't find the research I did, but even in the 19th C some Jablonec stones were actually glass, not true garnets. Having said that, the only stone I'm slightly doubtful about is that large centre one in the third brooch.

What's also interesting is that these were so often set in base metal or brass. Silver is less common and I don't think I've ever seen gold. Fashionable but at the time, not expensive.

 

I have one that looks like gold, but who knows. They do turn up occasionally.

 

I've seen some really good vermeil or gold filled ones, but not yet an actual gold one. I've got silver, vermeil and brass.

 

Sounds like I need to unearth the ones I have here and take a gander.