LARGE VINTAGE AQUAMARINE NECKLACE LEFT TO ME BY MY MOM

I found this in a box of jewelry my mom left me. It was full of real gold jewelry + high end costume jewelry (like Alex Bitter lucite bracelets).
This necklace is on a silver chain with a unusual mounting for the stone.
Is it a aquamarine? How can I tell?
It weighs 6.8 dwt - how can I tell how many carats it is?
Is it real or costume?
Finally, any way to tell it's value (taking it to a jewelry store will get me a lower price - I think - because if they buy it they have to make a profit also. - I'm thinking of selling it on eBay & splitting the money with my brother and sister, but every aquamarine jewelry I saw there had sold for $25 - $30 at the most! (is aquamarine that cheap or are they knock offs/costume?)
Thanks for any info; I appreciate the help.

 

The only way to know what the stone is would be to take it in for testing. It could be glass, it could be a stone, no one can tell from a photo.

My gut tells me glass since I don't think that size aquamarine would be set in an inexpensive silver setting, but that's JMHO

 

Hi @journeymagazine

It has quite a lot of chips to it... Both chain and setting seem not sterling with that rust

Sounds like your mother had great taste - maybe this was a gift?

 

I'm with Marie and Scouts, most likely costume.

 

I see no rust.... where is the rust?

 

The setting is discolored - not rust, I misspoke, sorry

 

Copper leaching out from poor soldering technique and bad cleanup,the setting looks like a handmade"basket setting" which also has poor/excess solder seams.

 

Having said all that, it reminds me of these...



Which are German/Austrian, not Italian... How large is it?

 

They sell those chains by the kajillion to all and sundry. It may have come with the pendant but they may well not have started life in the same country, never mind the same factory. The pendant looks like glass to me too. If she was a December baby, it might be a birthstone pendant made to look real. We'll also need to see the back of the pendant itself for any and all marks. As I said, the chain is meaningless; it's about $1-2 in scrap silver and that's about it.

And dibs on that top costume piece @scoutshouse posted!

 

Looking up PT ITALY 925 and came across this(!)



Which reminded me of a story about an aunt.

Hoping someone would notice her engagement ring, she held her hand up to her cheek and asked, "Has anyone seen my cow?"

 

My immediate reaction was glass. It's quite chipped & abraded on the long edge you've shown us. Can't imagine your mother was particularly hard on jewellery. Unless the stone spent time as a ring before being set as a pendant, don't know how it got so beat up. The color is closer to the sea green color suggested by the name 'aquamarine' than the very pale, irradiated blue that has been the preferred color, for genuine stones & fake.

 

Get in the queue.....no pushing or shoving allowed!

 

It could be costume - it was in a box FULL of costume & real gold jewelry. - And/or it could be real and she might have gotten it as a teenager, when she grew up with the circus, had her own trick pony Trigger & her and my grandparents elephants in our family's farm's pasture in the winter time - all of which may have contributed to any chips.
I'll get it tested just to be safe.
Thanks all!

 

PS - me & my mom a few years ago & my mom then (on back!)

 

So that's what people did before there were smart phones!

 

It's mine! You can try prying it out of my cold, dead hands - but I wouldn't recommend it

They are rock crystal...

Just a share Old German Crystal Pendant Sterling Art Deco

 

Yeah, @journeymagazine

I remember your mom had a big life!

 

I'm a rock crystal fan too. The only ring I ever bought new from a jewelry store is a big honker of a rock crystal ring. Paid too much, but oh well.

 

Please tell me you still have it!?

 

I'm still wearing it!