Featured Silver? Brooch

Here is the last find of the day. Three items and not a bit of porcelain to be seen. Looks like a silver brooch with possibly agate set in it. No hall marks to he seen. I thought it might be worth while attempting to set another stone in it. With the discussion last night regarding pin lengths I thought that it might have some age as it overshoots the end of the brooch.

 

Late nineteenth and almost certainly silver.

 

Okay thanks. Maybe there is a mark hiding somewhere but if there is, it is well hidden.

 

Ditto.
Silver isn't always marked.

 

Thritto. Even modern artisan silver isn't always stamped. IIRC it cost money to hallmark silver and some smiths didn't bother.

 

Aye. I guess you only need to have it stamped if you are selling it.

 

And not if you're only selling locally.

 

Most Victorian silver brooches aren’t marked.

 

It's a loose distinction, but think this would be considered jasper rather than agate.

 

I too was going to call it jasper.

 

Aye. I guess agate has more defined bands.

 

Only banded agate. There are also other types of agate.
Agate is translucent, which this one doesn't seem to be.

 

Ah okay. Is that the difference? Other than that the two seem to have very similar compositions.

 

Jasp agate..... https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=jasp+agate

 

Agate" is a name based upon three things: 1) crystal size, 2) composition, and 3) diaphaneity. Agate is a microcrystalline quartz with a translucent to semitransparent diaphaneity.

"Jasper" is a name based upon three things: 1) crystal size, 2) composition, and 3) diaphaneity. Jasper is a microcrystalline quartz with an opaque diaphaneity. It is opaque because it contains enough non-chalcedony material to interfere with the passage of light.

This piece is translucent so now I'm confused.

 

It's jasp agate ,no reason to be confused.

 

Oddly it looks a lot like "volcano quartz", a modern synthetic. Maybe the modern glass is meant to resemble this.