Featured Finds Thread

Black amethyst glass, odds are. It's a dark glass that looks black at first glance, but purple if you angle it correctly so some light can pass through. Czech in origin, and probably subbing in for black tourmaline or garnet in this case. It was used commonly for vases and other decorative items.

 

Yup, probably from Gablonz/Jablonec in Bohemia.

 

Hi Hollyblue,
Black amethyst is a glass term for black glass when held up to the sun or a bright light has a purple tinge to it.
greg

 

great finds terry, I love the clock!

 

Love the flamingos, and the clock right after.

 

I went to three sales today and two grocery stores. The first two....why oh why did I get up two hours early? The third one...paydirt. Spent $4 and got a nice hunk of melt-me .900 silver in the pile. I should have gone there first; who knows what else was there?

 

Just read a letter from (John) Furley Lewis dated 29th January 1903 that I bought recently in a large lot.

In it he writes as an afterthought:

"P.S. Keir Hardie hasnt paid yet, & I'm desperately hard up!" and "Please dont send this on!"

Here is the National Portrait Gallery image of Hardie taken by Lewis

For those who don't know Hardie, here is the Wiki entry

 

You ought to send the Portrait Gallery a scan of the letter.

 

I messaged them today, I'll let them have a scan if they agree not to publish.

 

My find of the day today was at the grocery store - free frozen yogurt and two free chocolate bars. The tag sales...spent $10 on not much. There's a reason they call it hunting and not finding.

 

My find(s) of the day were a pretty (colors and pattern) full-length "pad" for our wrought iron chaise longue out by the magnolia tree and a protective "cover" for the chaise longue and pad in inclement weather.

DH was with me this morning and he was more than willing to pull out his wallet and pay her asking price (no haggling) for both items . . . would you believe $4 each for a total of $8.

 

Just some junk silver purchased at 13x face from a local coin dealer. Nothing too special although the Barber Half is a little too nice for a junk bin in my opinion.

Could have purchased at holed Peace Dollar for $13 but decided to pass.

 

oh that sounds lovely yourturn I imagine having a tall iced tea while relaxing on the chaise lounge. Great score on your buys!

 

would you say this is a match for 2 different paintings done by the same artist (side by side) , or do you think they were done years apart with by 2 different artists 2 different sets of brushes, and 2 different kinds of paints ,pictures of my chair on the right ,$50 million on the left except frame 3 is upside down ?.


(one experts opinion )"
Dear Lloyd,
Thank you for the photographs.
Unfortunately without the aid of examining the chair in person, In my humble opinion, I do not believe this chair was painted by Picasso. While the cracking may cause the chair to appear to have been painted a long time ago, the brilliant colors reveal that it is not that old. The white paint used by Picasso had a lot of lead content. The white portions of the chair would have yellowed somewhat. The paint used to paint the chair appears to be an acrylic – Picasso never used acrylic paint. This was invented in the 50s, and really only came into use in the 60s & 70s – mostly by the American abstract expressionists. Picasso had a unique style to his signature that does not match the signature on your chair. I believe the chair was created recently. It appears to be the type of chair that might sell in a hipster furniture store or art gallery. Personally, I think the chair is a great object of art and I bet it looks awesome in your home.

 

I hear you about thinking I should have gone to this sale first, what did I miss? Drives me nuts. There are always tons of yard sales this Memorial Day weekend. Hubby drove me south the first day.....we got up late by my standards, but it was good enough. The best place I hit was a barn sale.... the people are dealers and they have it a few times a year. The jewelry was really picked over, and I kept thinking "Shoulda got here earlier...." but the guy must have bought out a Sorrento jewelry factory, there was still tons left, sterling and gold-filled pieces. Then there was an outdoor antique sale that happens a few times a year.... it was a garnety weekend, that's all I can say.

I think this is truly my first Bohemian garnet piece, just set in a base metal.....from an antique dealer, but I got a good price.




Then she had a pair of garnet cluster earrings (I have two pairs now), but these were twice as big as my other two pairs.... one of the posts is missing, so I got them for $15. I am going to have 14k posts soldered on.


Then, at the barn sale, jewelry was $2 a piece or 3 pieces for $5. I spent $20 there, this is one set of earrings, Sorrento gold-filled, and the garnets are genuine.

I also got a three-garnet sterling vermeil necklace, broken chain, needs replacing. I guess the best deal was a bag of 14k earrings, small, one pair are small emeralds and diamonds, one pair small rubies, one pair gold hearts, one pair gold stars, all in a bag for $2. Today I hit some yard sales and an estate sale, not much left, but I am way behind in photographing stuff. Sorry for the long post, I have been super-busy with the day job and my uncle. Miss you guys!

 

One last garnet piece..... the lady acid tested the back (duh), it is 900 silver with a vermeil finish, but she blew some of the gold off with the acid....but the front is still beautiful. People are so dumb.

Garnets are my dad's birthstone, and whenever I find them, I feel that he is telling me he is watching over me.

 

Nice photo's......

 

Well, not sure if this is a find but it may be. Signed 1930 letter from Gutzon Borglum to French Strother re the Mount Rushmore memorial.

Sorry about the watermarks but I'll probably want to sell this.

 

Absoutely Victorian Bohemian garnets. It's very typical for them to be set in brass - it was the stones that mattered, not the matrix. The others are more modern, but you know that.

 

Thanks, Bear. Yes, I researched garnets a great deal..... the others were probably mined in Germany. Czechoslovakia had the bright, slightly purplish ones. The lady had a small pendant made with flat pear-shaped garnets in the shape of a four-leaf clover. The center had a small green stone, probably a demantoid? garnet. Probably Georgian, probably shoulda bought it.