Featured Earrings, very pretty but ?

Picked these up years ago from somewhere I can’t recall, way before I got a loupe or a diamond tester. Today I had a closer look and found a NG mark on one of them. I had assumed they were a pot metal looking at the back but they are non magnetic and I’m now thinking maybe sterling. Tested the ‘emeralds’ which are glass but some of the weeny diamonds tested as diamonds!!! I was very surprised. I don’t know how or when this was made and how they have stuck the diamonds in so I’m hoping someone can give a date for these and suggest what sort of earring fixing they originally might have had. They are an inch long. Thanks for any help.

 

Houseful, is this a mark?

 

Hi Household,
Wait for the "joolies" but I can say they are WONDERFUL.
My Mom was a natural blonde and always wore emeralds.
greg

 

Yes I think it’s NG and I thought it was last two letters of STERLING but I’m not sure. There’s lots of anomalies with these. The millegrain setting is usually used on platinum not silver. Some of the diamonds are not but some test as diamonds.

 

I’d like to wear these, they do look the biz!

 

Oh, ok, I see you saw that, but I don't think it is the last two letters of sterling, because the entire stamp of that word would have been difficult to fit the stamper into that small space. I think this is a maker's mark, rather than sterling.

 

You could be right. I thought the maker might have flooded the other letters with metal so they were covered over. These have taken me by surprise, they’ve been in the undiscovered pile for so long and I hadn’t even seen the mark or tested it before today.

 

I love 'em and would wear in a heartbeat.

 

Milgrain has been used on gold and silver jewelry since at least the 1920's to the present. https://www.google.com/search?q=ste...VDTd8KHS3DAXIQ_AUoAnoECA0QBA&biw=1392&bih=739

 

What makes you sure those are from earrings?

Debora

 

The single loop at the top of each looks like the part that held the earring attachment plus the size and finding a pair seemed more likely. Can’t see anything that would make me think bracelet. Perhaps necklace maybe they were dangles.

 

I read here that platinum was far more likely but I’ve never handled any. I can say that these have been stuck in a old plastic film canister for years and they haven’t tarnished as silver would but I’m not sure if the canister stopped that happening.
https://www.langantiques.com/university/millegrain/

 

The weeny diamonds that are big enough to test have all come up as diamonds.

 

WOW!!! Get those green stones tested!!!

 

The green stones are coming up as a two on my diamond tester. I think they are probably glass. The earrings are really heavy, that’s why I originally thought pot metal but why set diamonds in pot metal?

 

There is enough questions about these that I think you should ask a GIA certified Jeweler. They would be equipped to do a couple quick tests to find out what these are. My Jeweler wouldn't charge, but some will. Call ahead first to see if they could/would do that and what they would charge. There are several possibilities for the green stone. I see nothing that tells me they are glass, but pictures are often hard to tell from.
Other green stones are Emeralds ( these look too clean for that, but if they are they are high value), Several types of garnets are green (tsavorite, demantoid, and gossular). Worth getting an opinion on. Most good Jewelers can do it while you wait.

 

What would tell you that the green stones were glass? Good glass has no internal "flaws",bubbles,etc.

 

EXCUSE ME? What would tell you they are glass?
I did not say one way or the other. I simply said I did not see anything that tells me they are glass......which would be all the things you mentioned, and I don't . I also said it was hard to tell from the pictures. Then I gave her some examples of stones they COULD be. If I had said right out they were not glass, thats' one thing, but I didn't. I simply advised her to have them checked.

 

Does it matter to the testing gadget that the diamonds are enclosed in metal? Unusual to set diamonds in a way that does not allow more light to pass through them, the way the green stone has an open back. The metal work is just so clunky, I think your first impression was correct. Tourmaline is another mineral that can be green. I can't tell from pix: would you call it a slightly blue green?; or is it edging toward yellow?

 

Not sure what you mean with the comment as light does not "pass"through a diamond. The light is reflected/refracted back out the table. https://en.israelidiamond.co.il/wik...utes-the-diamond/optical-properties-diamonds/