Featured Antique cross

So, today this beauty came home to me.
When I saw it for sale online (7€ incl shipping), it was very dirty and you could almost see no details but I immediately recognized it as a good piece.
It came from Spain, although I have not seen anything that looks like it.
My testing solution is out of order, and a few moments ago ly diamond tester died on me, so for now I m not sure what exactly it is, but my guess would be its vermeil and silver with the small stones being senailles (small old cut diamond chips) and the middle stone being foiled paste.
Has anyone any better idea about origin/age/etc? Or could someone decipher the stamp?
On the last picture you can see one of my Flemish crosses next to it, the one I was wearing today.

 

Who is this seller?! It is lovely.

It looks like it could be Spanish.

A good guess. Do you have a loupe? If so, you can check if the centre stone has bubbles. It could be a real stone, (synthetic) spinel can be that colour.
Beautiful crimped setting too, I always like that.

I have Spanish pieces from ca 1900 where the clear stones are rock crystal, rather than diamond senailles.

You did post that Flemish beauty before, in kyra's thread, didn't you? It is gorgeous.

 

Hello Any Jewelry, thank you very much for your reply!
I see no bubbles. But its so dark now so I will have to look tomorrow for more details.
So you could be right: the big stone being (synthetic) spinel or rock crystal or something like that.
I hope to get my diamond tester back to working order so I ll update about the small stones when/if it works,

I dont believe I already showed the small Flemish cross, but I could be mistaken.
I m getting old and all these crosses do look alike.
I think I showed the bigger one. the small one is easier to wear because it fits with everything.

 

Any Jewelry, I would love to see your Spanish crosses though!

 

Dessert, that cross on the right is stunning!

Oops, when I talked about the Spanish pieces, I didn't mean crosses.
I do have a few Spanish crosses sans stones, but they are on rosaries. One silver filigree rosary, and one penitence or protection rosary. Both were worn as necklaces.
Now where did I put them....

 

Any Jewelry, thank you! I have a few of these big crosses and they all look slightly different.
'Now where did I put them'
Omg...thats me talking all day long!
My girls are excellent finders luckily

 

Aren't Peridots about that light color green???

 

Looks exactly the right color for a peridot to me too, thanks Aquitaine!
Not sure your cross is a hundred years old, but if not, it's getting close.
Peridot would have been exactly correct for that time period, along with the small diamond chips, which these look like to me too.

 

You're lucky to be close to the source, I mean literally inside the source, for Flemish crosses.

They are, but they weren't used for traditional European regional/national jewellery, which this cross is. This could have been made by a contrary maker of course.
Spinels were used quite a lot in Western European regional jewellery, which is why I thought that a possibility.

 

Any Jewelry, yes, you are absolutely right: I m right inside the Flemish Jewelry source!
I m very lucky.
About this Spanish cross: I m not sure it could be peridot.
With the naked eye it looks clear, but I think the green color you see comes from the foiled back.
Still hoping my diamond tester will shine some light on the stones, if I can get him to work again.

 

That is possible. It is an old tradtion to use coloured foil behind clear glass or stones. At one point it was even used behind diamonds. Can't remember the period of diamonds on coloured foil though.

Is it a cheap one or an expensive one? They can all have their quirks at times, but a cheap one can be replaced more easily.

 

Any Jewelry, its a very inexpensive diamond tester, but I kinda like it. My 7 year old son who is a real tech head has just taken it apart so I have good hopes it will work again some day

In the past it was common to use colored foils on diamonds and other stones.
https://www.langantiques.com/university/gemstone-surface-enhancements/

 

Well, that's all right then.
Your kids are very useful, the girls find things, your boy is a tech head, great to have around the house.

 

I need one of those tech head things. Just had to reset a breaker, blown when the cleaning "lady" (actually the lady's husband; she's home with a new baby) vacuumed. That was about as much as I can handle.

That cross for 7 Euro was an easy "I'll take this please!" I agree the green is probably peridot.

 

Perhaps you have a black light torch working?
I bet the center stone will glow
A very nice find-bargain! Cannot see the detail of the mark, but it has the gold scent to me
The little stones seems to be crystals rather than diamonds, but hard to be sure from the pic...

 

Gorgeous!

 

The plot thickens!
Kyratango, thank you very much for your remarks. Why didn t I think about using the UV lamp?
The middle stone glows very green in UV light.
My hubby got my diamond tester working again and the small stones are indeed diamonds (senailles). The middle stone gives 2 stripes on my tester.
Also I used my loop on the middle one: it definitely has some black inclusions, no bubbles.
The bail and loop of the cross do have a 'gold' feel and look to them, so I wouldn t be surprised if the smaller parts are indeed gold.

 

My 7 year old doing the UV experiment

 

Any Jewelry: oldest daughter likes to GET jewelry, second daughter likes to CLEAN jewelry, both of them are trained to find all things I always loose around the house, my 7 year old son just likes money/diamonds/gold anything he can get his paws/hands on...they are real treasures in my home