Featured Repair or Harvest Moonstone Brooches

This follows on from @Lucille.b posting her beautiful moonstone brooch which was sadly missing a gem.
I saw these brooches in a lot for repairs on eBay and thought of her brooch.
Lucille and I are in agreement that I should check with the assembled wise ones here if they should be repaired or if they are too far gone and it would be ok to harvest the stones.
Being cynical, the cost of the repairs could be balanced against selling the stones individually and buying a nice undamaged example but I won’t destroy something that deserves to be repaired. Antique moonstones are difficult to find.

They both test as silver but no hallmarks to be seen.
The star is fragile, missing the pin, missing one arm and the prongs are damaged, loose and open in places. Not sure if this is saveable. 3.5cm across

The bug is really rather lovely and I’m tempted to repair him but what is he missing? Wings?, antennae?, legs?. 3.5cm long.
One of the stones from the star I think would fit his tail but the others would need sourcing so would either be a different gem or looking for more moonstones.(Slippery slope this....) @kyratango your expertise would be appreciated!.
Thoughts please
Thankyou for looking, there are more bits from the lot I will share on a different thread.

 

That bug is absolutely worth fixing, the setting is highly unusual and collectible.

 

It’s cute isn’t it. That body moonstone isn’t going to fit anything else either!. So can I rob Peter to pay Paul is the question?

 

I would fix both, but that's just me. Both are beautiful, but costly to have fixed.

Wings and a small head with antennae. So that involes a lot of fixing.
The star is gorgeous, and would need the ray to be fixed.

 

Or is/was he one of these?. There are a few scorpions online with shorter tails.
He’s got a little turn up at the end of his tail

 

I was thinking perhaps scorpion.

 

Anyone got some spare snippy arms?!
Wonder if I could find a silver charm I could cannibalise and take them off......

 

Not spare, no....

 

Still using yours then?

 

Daily.

 

That is actually cute.

 

I love both pieces. There is something about moonstone that is very calming

 

True.

 

Wow, those are nice brooches. I actually like the star better, but as mentioned the scorpion or whatever it is, probably rarer.

Now you are going to be stuck like me, needing stones to repair those!

I'm in no hurry to find a replacement for mine, it might even be hard to get a perfect match if you know what I mean, but I'm curious if you could make some $$ selling the loose pieces maybe from the star, sad to take apart, but looks like it needs a pin back replacement too. If you do go that route, I'd be sure to take a photo of the original piece so buyers can see they are getting antique stones and where they came from.

Or you could list each as damaged -- let it be someone else's problem, and try to make a bit of profit on your lot purchase.

Or stick both in storage and together we could try to find replacements.

 

They would join my « inkasoff » box, ready to be either used for pieces or repurpose.
I hink they are beyond repair in conventional way

 

So unconventional it is!
I am sliding towards the star being irreparable sadly as it is so fragile and damaged. I’ve got a jeweller friend who is going to have a look at it for me.
The bug needs inspiration. I may do something with him when I’ve learned how to solder.