Featured Help With Egyptian Guilloche/Enamel Cufflinks

I'm wondering if anyone could identify the maker of these little guilloche/enameled cufflinks -- I'm assuming they're cufflinks. It looks like they're signed "GN" but the "N" doesn't look quite right. They're also marked 935. It looks like there's a "T" and "D" on the tiny connecting links, but I couldn't get good photos of those two marks.

Are the little inlaid pieces stones or glass?

I'd also be interested to know the meaning of the pictures and symbols.

Would these cufflinks be considered 1920's Egyptian Revival? I found them buried in the bottom of a tray of costume jewelry at an estate sale in Minneapolis several years ago.

 

those are really tasty !!!!!

 

German enamel work, probably around 1920s-30s - can't quite make out the last initial (maybe GK or GR?, but probably from one of the numerous Pforzheim makers. Can't make out anything on the marks in the last pic, can you get a better shot? Similar pieces are found bearing additional Egyptian marks...

~Cheryl

 

Absolutely gorgeous, Joan, wow.

They certainly look 1920s to me. And I agree with Cheryl, 935 could be German.

 

Those would have landed straight in my hoard/collection too. I can't read the marks for anything.

 

Thank you for your information. Sorry, but I can't get a better shot for the last photo. I was unaware of Pforzheim makers, but found the Pforzheim Jewellery Museum online -- the jewelry examples are amazing.

 

Those would have been quite the fashion statement in their time.

Debora

 

Falk's 'Art Nouveau Jewellery from Pforzheim' (2008) is a stunning book, focused on Jugendstil pieces, earlier than yours - it's still a bit pricey, but can probably be found at a library...

Here's a bracelet (replaced spring-ring), it might have the same maker's mark, but I can't really tell - also bears Egyptian marks from 1937-38: https://www.etsy.com/dk-en/listing/605798172/superb-egyptian-revival-935-sterling

~Cheryl

 

The mark on the clasp[edit: or not the spring ring, the other side? And also marked 935?] looks like the Egyptian 800 fineness mark & the N date letter for 1937-38:

 

Can't make out the Egyptian marks on this bracelet, but maker appears to be 'GK': https://www.rubylane.com/item/11955...vival/Egyptian-Revival-Plique-jour-Enamel-935

edit: Looks to be 1929-30 on this one...

~Cheryl

 

Agree; think the date letter is E. However, think only these marked rings are from Egypt, not the main part of the bracelets. Germany made bracelets that look like souvenirs of Egypt, except higher quality than the real ones. Were German makers importing Egyptian findings to lend an air of authenticity?

 

These are very similar. Described as Jugendstil.

https://www.vintage-cufflinks.com/epages/61801505.sf/de_DE/?ObjectPath=/Shops/61801505/Products/2004

Debora

 

Amazing that you found a bracelet with some of the identical graphics. Thank you for the link. Now I can see why the "N" on my cufflink didn't look quite right. The shape of the "GK" initials on the bracelet are a little different than on the cufflinks, but maybe that's not so unusual for jewelry makers?

 

Here's a jewelry maker that uses the mark GK.

FISCHLAND JEWELRY / GEORG KRAMER

De real Fischland jewelry is produced by the company of Walter Kramer (a descendant of Georg Kramer). The silversmith Georg Kramer founded his company in 1771 in Ribnitz Damgarten (Germany). His descendant is the master goldsmith Walter Kramer who started in 1932 with the designs of the well-known silver "fish-jewelry" which usually were decorated with amber. Walter named this jewelry to the Fischland area near Ribnitz, the southwestern part of the peninsula Darss-Zingst. This jewelry was a great success, especially amongst the tourists and bathers from that era, and in 1939 the company was renamed Fischland GmbH with patent protection. The company then had 100 employees. In addition to the Fischland Schmuck this company also designed beautiful modernist jewelry. Very striking because of the simple strong design in which often precious or semi-precious stones were processed. This jewelry was not hallmarked with the fish but with the letters G K in a shield together with a model number.

Debora

 

Thank you so much for the link. I had to translate the title and description on my phone. I didn't realize Jugendstil translates to Art Nouveau. The circle frames and connecting chains look the same as on my cufflinks. Now I'm wondering if "Egyptian Revival" is a term that was used only in America. I also looked up Jugendstil in the Merriam-Webster dictionary, which defines it as "a late 19th century and early 20th century German decorative style parallel to art nouveau."

 

Never mind. Company's mark looks like this.



Debora

 

Jugendstil and Art Nouveau aren't synonyms. "Parallel" is a good term.

Debora

 

Bronwen, I'm not sure I'm following you here regarding 'real ones' or 'authenticity' - German makers were exporting silver souvenir spoons and jewelry to Egypt for years, the spoons were often engraved as souvenirs in French (the dominant foreign language in Egypt at the time), the German marks even sometimes include the crescent & crown, and they can also be found with Egyptian marks added to the German. What reason would there be to solder an Egyptian ring to a German bracelet? It does look like the added Egyptian stamps indicate .800 fineness, not sure why that would be, but in both cases, the German 935 marks appear to be stamped on the same rings.

~Cheryl

 

Ägyptische Erweckung. Egyptian Revival in German -- a language I don't speak.

Debora