Does anybody recognise any of these brooches

Hi everybody,

I picked up a joblot of jewellery and iv tried to pick out some things that i quite liked, or thought was older/interesting



1. this piece I thought was interesting, i have no idea what the materials are but its like nothing I have seen.


2.

This one of 3 cats surrounding a fish is quite neat, the fish in the middle is set on 2 runners and can slide back and forth. unfortunately no makers mark.



3.

This Celtic one is not my cup of tea so to speak, but it does look old.


4.

I really like this victorian? miniature portrait brooch the setting does have a gold look about it to me, but not stamped, it may be worth a test?





5.
Not sure about this one the clasp suggests it has a little age.




Thank you for any insight you can share.

 

Not Celtic, no knotwork, but it could be Arts &Crafts. Possibly a Ruskin cabochon, what do you think @Ownedbybear ?

 

I'd think a Ruskin too, and would guess a sterling front...

~Cheryl

 

#4, she is not a Victorian woman, more mid 1700s style clothing, hat and hair I think (I could be wrng), very fashionable lady. But the back suggests the pin is probably late Victorian, most likely gold filled

 

Maybe pewter?

 

thank you!, after continuing my search the frame may be "pinchbeck"

if i search the term pinchbeck porcelain brooch i can see a few examples with the same frame now.

 

Bear might know better, but I'd think if pewter, it would have just been cast, the point of the brass or silverplate backs on either hammered or die-struck sterling front pieces was to lower cost...

~Cheryl

 

That's what I thought. Are you in the UK?

 

I am yes.

do we think 4 would be hand painted, or a transfer?

 

Absolutely Ruskin cabochon to my eye. I think pewter not silver: they often are, and that does look it to me. Hammered pewter was a Thing.

The odd looking beads are called something like sugar cake, my brain is gone. The back actually looks silver.

Your nice lady is late 19th/early 20th and yes, very Gainsborough. She's a famous portrait, don't ask me who.Have a look under a loupe, see if there's dots. I suspect printed on porcelain.

Filigree with the stone might be Czech, but I think more likely just post WW2 West German.

Cat one looks like a maker called JJ. 1980s.

 

That first brooch keeps ringing a bell with me, I think an old friend who collected Czech brooches, especially flower baskets, and seem to recall her having one similar to this - this looks to me like a stylized flower basket, maybe 1930s? The coralene and faux-pearl would also be fairly common in Bohemian/Czech beads...

It also kind of reminds me of the wild beadwork found on traditional German headdresses (this one is actually a bit restrained):


https://myhealthgazette.com/traditional-wedding-dresses-from-around-the-world-ob-is/7/

~Cheryl

 

Thank you, i have just looked under a loupe and i do see the entire face is covered in dots they almost look like little pin pricks, what does that indicate? printing?

 

Yes, that means printing. The little dots are how the image was produced on the printing plate.

Given those exuberant beads, Czech might well make sense.

 

Thank you, after searching "sugar bead brooch" i do see some items with similarities

 

Ahhh, not that they don't show up here, but Ruskins aren't something I find around much, or for that matter, pewter utilized like that either - good to know...

~Cheryl

 

It was part of the whole Arts and Crafts thing here: the value being in the craft, rather than intrinsic. I really like them.

 

Me too, I think this one is the nicest piece of the group, regardless of material.

~Cheryl

 

Me three. It is also a very nice example of its kind.

 

I pick those up whenever I can find them. The glazes are lovely.

 

Around here it's a "good luck" piece, as in good luck finding one. You Brits didn't export them much, except for the home crafter version I found.