Featured mystery pink paste gilt set

Hi all! I bought a small lot of jewellery in the UK about a year ago and among the pieces were a few lovely bits of pink paste set in what looks to be gilt (not sure about this though). At some point, someone made the individual pieces into a bar brooch by dangling them from a metal bar pin, but the backs of the two flower-shaped pastes show that this is not how they started out. Both have a ring on the back as well as a bar across the back and one has a ring attached to this bar as well. The latter seems to suggest they were converted to something else before they became part of a brooch. The pastes are very good quality, really clear and pretty. I wonder if they may have been part of a bracelet or choker necklace at some point - perhaps they could have been attached to a piece of ribbon? Maybe the two-headed snake bit could have been part of the clasp? I have no idea really! As you can see I've re-fashioned the flowers into a pair of earrings by adding wires and the snakes paste as a pendant from a chain so I can wear them (I don't wear brooches often and it was a bit of an odd ensemble hanging from the bar pin before).

Does anyone have any idea from which period these pastes might be and also what the original piece of jewellery may have been? I'd love to hear your thoughts - thanks very much!

Pictures below show the front and back of the pastes, as well as the front and back of the bar brooch / pin they were dangling from when I got them.

 

Fantastic find! It is an Empire (Napoleon 1st) belt clasp, all elements still there.
They were worn high, just under the breast.
Have a look on this coral parure:
https://i.pinimg.com/236x/14/92/c3/1492c33a8f08dc6a865d86dd42189c66.jpg

 

All pretty!

 

WOW!!!!!

 

This one lacks the double headed snake closure:

 

Oh wow, that's amazing! Kyratango you're brilliant, thank you!! I've been wondering off and on about this since I found it... especially the double-headed snake bit, I just couldn't picture how it would have all fit together. Now that I see the photos you posted though, I can tell how it would have worked. A belt clasp - I never would have guessed!

I'm happy to give the pieces a new life as earrings & a pendant I think knowing this, it would have to be my best find yet, especially since I only paid £12 for the lot!

Thanks again!!

 

Hi,
i have a lot of those pins that you hook pieces on. It was very fashionable in the 1980s. I used a lot of brass and copper clock pieces to make jewelry for friends.
greg