Featured Garnet Brooch

I’m not normally savage but who ever ‘repaired’ this brooch actually needs their hands chopped off!
Poor thing found in a box of scrap dolls and junk china, I think the dealer just looked at the clasp and thought it was junk which I hope it isn’t
I’d love some help to unpick any information about it please.
The garnets are all faceted differently and different thicknesses.
The gold tests as 14k (but could be plate) and the modern clasp is base metal. The shocking solder job has obliterated any marks if they ever existed!
2cm long.
Any thoughts please?
Thankyou

 

Looks like a home repair with lead solder.

 

Yep. Grim isn’t it

 

Bootifool, K! Some issues, but who cares, they are on the back anyway.

A man in a shed?
That solder calls for one of those gold lacquer pens kyra and I use.

 

That’s a good idea, after all I don’t think I can make it worse!

 

No you can't make it worse. And it is reversible, it says on the pen what you can use to remove the gold lacquer (in small print).

 

Any thoughts on a date please?

 

Is there a brand name for the pen?

 

The brand I use is Edding. It looks pretty much like Edding felt tip pens, except it contains a type of lacquer.
I believe kyra uses a different brand.

 

Looks like a marriage of maybe a couple of different single gold earrings? Or something like that. And I would definitely vote for real gold! For what it's worth it has gone through so much in life it has come out the other side with charm to it. Like it has stories to tell.

 

I think a single piece that broke in two at some stage during its long and often hard life.

Ditto and ditto.

 

Defo looks like an earring.

 

Same here. It looks like the earring or whatever broke and someone home-soldered it and added a pinback to make it wearable again. Maybe they found it broken in a junk pile and figured it was better than junk. The really old gold settings could be very thin and broke easily.

 

Could be! Any clues as to how old it is please? Do the cut of the garnets date it?
I’ve Googled and they use the term ‘mine-cut’ for some old garnets, I thought that was a term only used for diamonds

 

Rose cut pear shaped. https://www.google.com/search?clien...HckhBGsQ0pQJegQIDBAB&biw=1163&bih=619&dpr=1.3

 

looks to me like two halves of a clasp with the loops and hook cut off and the pieces matched up. If it is a home job with lead solder it may be able to be stripped, but I agree with others that I would touch it up and enjoy it. Cool!

 

It may look like an earring or two earrings to our modern eyes, but it wouldn't look like (an) earring(s) to 19th century eyes.
Earrings in this style would be pendants, pear shape or teardrop shape.
I have gold and garnet earpendants from the same period, but can't find the photograph.

Imo it was either a brooch, like it is now but with a period appropriate pin back, or it was a pendant.
In this thread are both a gold and garnet brooch and a gold and garnet pendant, roughly the same period as yours but a slightly different style:
https://www.antiquers.com/threads/brooch-with-garnet-or-rubys-and-pearl.73384/#post-4551676

As you can see the brooch is not symmetric, because symmetry wasn't part of the style, and brooches don't have to be worn horizontally.

 

Thankyou AJ.
Your comment on that lovely brooch in the link was-

Does any of this apply to my little brooch?

 

The period is the same, imo.
Yours isn't from Schwäbisch Gmünd, but it could be German.

 

Thankyou