Featured Brass? Marked 925? Turtle Pill Box w/ Assorted stones.

I picked this up this summer at the auction of the never-ending estate auctions. I was getting it listed & noticed the little "divot" on the bottom in the photo. I got it off the shelf & was shocked to see there was an impressed 925 on the bottom.

This piece clearly looks to be brass to me. I cleaned the bottom with a sunshine cloth & it became a shiny brass color but I did get rid of the big spot of tape residue from a sticker.

I could use some help on the stones just to make sure I describe them correctly.

This piece is 3 5/8" from nose to tail, 2 1/4" across the back feet & 1 1/8" to the top.

Any ideas as to why it would be marked this way?

Does anyone know the country of origin?

I was going to describe it as a pill/trinket box unless someone has any better ideas.



Thanks for any & all opinions or advice!!

 

Sterling can tarnish to a brown color then to black naturally,it could have had an applied patina. The green stone on top is malachite,others look like lapis maybe Chinese turquoise and not sure of the "black" stones.

 

China marks everything 925, even plastic

 

Sure looks like cast brass.

 

That is why I used the sunshine cloth to see if it was tarnished but it just became shinier rather than changing color.

There are aqua, blue & what I am assuming is some type of coral but there are no black stones.

It is very hard to say where this guy got this piece. He spent all of his time going to flea markets, antique shops, thrift shops, etc. as was shown by the mountains of stuff that came through the auction house.

If you do a search for never ending estate auction here on the forum you can get a small glimpse of the stuff. My posts do not include the multitude of over-flowing table lots that were sold on Tuesday nights because I banned myself from those sales a long time ago because I get into too much trouble when I go to them.

 

I was all ready to list it as such until I saw that mark & I just wanted to make sure I didn't miss something.

 

That is cute as a button. I have seen brass ones (no stones) that were larger that were ashtrays.
I think it will do well for you Peggy.

 

Nice, appears to have an Indian look to me from how the stones are set and some of the features. Agree top stone is malachite, blue sparkly cabs probably lapis lazuli, the small cabs probably coral and turquoise. The larger blue cabs are a bit ambiguous but could be turquoise.

Is there any verdigris in the crevices? If so this could indicate brass. Also is it solid - it would be very unusual to make something like this in solid silver, you would expect the body to be hollow. If it is hollow and no sign of verdigris then there is a chance it may be gilded silver.

 

He's very cute! There are a few in more silver looking metal with the same 925 stamp. I don't suppose there is a very inconspicuous spot to do a little scratch test.

This appears to be similar though looks more silvery also marked 925. They are wondering if from Tibet.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/3138225974...qZueXfVDgfG0DJAKxQYrDUBCjvzq7pTUaAhxhEALw_wcB

This one is not as similar but also marked 925 in the same way. They say Chinese, maybe Tibet.


https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/int...Chinese-silver-turtle-form-box-2cf6?locale=en

 

Have you tried a pencil eraser on it to see if it takes any of the "tarnish" off?

 

To me, the stones look nice enough to warrant a Silver setting

Would be more surprised if it wasn't in silver

 

His body does feel solid & there is evidence of verdigris inside the hollowed-out area. I did not notice it even when I was going over it trying to see if there were any other marks or if I could see any silver peeking through.

So my guess is this is a brass copy of the silver ones that @say_it_slowly showed above & the 925 was meant to maybe lead someone astray.

I am going to list it in auction format so we will see what happens.

 

I don't see any difference in the quality of the eBay one sis posted and yours

The sothebys one yeah

So perhaps the eBay one isn't really Silver

I'd test it to be sure

 

I agree, it can't hurt to test it, and if it comes up as silver you will get more money for it

 

If it's gold-plated silver it could be both silver-marked and look like brass. OTOH I've seen Tibetan and Nepalese pieces with nice stones set in brass. Definitely worth testing, since they could have used copper solder on a silver box.

 

I have no way of testing it so it will have to wait till I see one of my buddies at the auction house.

I'll let ya'll know what I find out but it might be a few weeks till I run into any of them.

 

It is very rare for something marked only 925 to be silver

 

Yeah I've fallen into that trap before with the only 925, and testing results have mostly always turned out false

Haven't seen alot of nice stones like this set in brass before though

 

There's a great deal out there which is only marked 925 and is silver.

 

Lapis, turquoise, coral & malachite. Visually stones look genuine. Lovely little turtle looks to be a pill box. Looks like it might have a little age to it. Impossible to know with certainty where it was made beyond the style, and it does have an Asian feel to it. Alot of work for a brass bit. I'm leaning to the possibility it may be gilt sterling. Only way to know is to take and have it tested. If it is sterling, I'd ask a pretty penny for it and someone would pay it, and I'd enjoy having it sitting in my cabinet if they didn't