Featured Silver Mystery Makers Marks

I got these two modernish pieces this weekend, and I thought I'd run the mystery marks on them by you lovely people before I send it over to the facebook group Marko kindly recommended.

This one's fun, I'm thinking volcanic rock set in sterling. The mark is nice and visible, but sadly no luck on the ole google.







Second on the list is this sweet child's bracelet. This is TINY. I saw the sterling mark on the clasp and grabbed it, but after finding marks on the ring of the garnets in my other post, I looked at this on the off chance, and voila: makers mark. Its in a lozenge, so French? But I can't find it anywhere. I've tried lighthouse and obelisk with no results, what is this? In the photos it actually looks like a snake or bird on top of there. It looks like it says BF but SA (5A? 3A?) are in smaller letters above it.






(Im in France if that helps)
Thanks for looking!​

 

I thought SA meant that the silver was made in Salerno Italy. I could be wrong but someone will know for sure.

 

The black stone is lava for sure.

 

Ditto. Hammered, Modernist going on to post-modern.

Looks like it.

Lighthouse was a good guess, maybe try a tower?
The BF is prominent, SA smaller. Maybe a company that is a Societé Anonyme?

True, but only on Italian marks, which would include a star and the fineness. This mark looks like a French maker's mark, as Rachel thought.

 

Modernist/postmodern in age or just style? I've been loving the geometric shapes lately, but I think this one is going on the sale pile so would love any key words or references I could put to it. There's a definite trend towards the style this year so I think it'll do pretty well! (fingers crossed anyway)

Hmm I had a little search for a Societé Anonyme BF in connection with jewelry and it didn't turn up anything, only clothing. I'll continue to search though so thanks for the lead!

Good to know on the Italian marks, I know what to look for later!

Thank you all for your replies! <3

 

My guess is both. Late Modernist going on post modern, so not MCM. Maybe 1980ish. Late 20th century jewellery is not my forte.

 

Excellent, thank you for your help and knowledge! For a euro I couldn't pass it up, its got a cool look to it.

 

Absolutely. You did well. Again.

 

I'm definitely not complaining haha!

 

I've done some more digging and came up with two possibilities.

One was a reddit post from 5 years ago about a ring with the same mark. Someone suggested Frederic Babou, and his 1885 mark of a match. Not sure that's correct, but I can't find an example of his mark anywhere.

The second is a webpage I happened upon that lists the coat of arms of various french cities. Belfort has this one:



Now to look into Belfort jewelers and Societé Anonymes! A quick search showed nothing but I shan't give up just yet.​

 

Thank you

 

The plot thickens....

If the BF is for Belfort, the SA could be the maker's initials.

 

I've continued to look for it but no luck. Hopefully something will come up soon!

I posted the lava necklace on the Jewelry Mark FB group, but no ID was found. They thought the pendant was artisan with a generic/mass produced chain which suited. Its definitely a possibility, but not one that gets that mark ID'd. Perhaps it'll remain a mystery!

 

Everyone needs a little mystery in their life.