Featured Brooches and Bits (LOTS of photos!)

This weekend was VERY fruitful. I've really got to stop spending but I did get some really good bits! How to stop??

Anyway, first up a group photo cause why not!


First up the very pretty flower brooch, marked 'Tcechoslovakie', which is odd since that's the French spelling...? Anyway, its very cute and I'm working on cleaning it up.
Am I right to put this at the 20s? I saw mostly 20s in other pieces, specifically with that blue bead, but some went were listed as 30s as well.
I love the twisted frame!



I absolutely adore the snail, its not missing a single stone and its beautifully made. This thing is HEAVY. Its marked Carven, which by the looks of things would pay for all the weekend's purchases and then some. But I'm not sure I can part with it just yet



I can't quite decide which is my favorite, but the stork is a strong contender. I got it for its age and beauty, but another week, another sneaky mark! This time not so sneaky, I'm just horribly unobservant. This time its the French boars head for .800 silver, and another mark that looks almost empty its stamped so badly/tinyly. I shan't ruin my vision searching for it through the loupe haha.
But LOOK at it!! I love it.
I'm guessing Art Nouveau? But Victorian or Edwardian AN is the question. I'm a sucker for details haha


Its got some old thread in the hinge, is there anything interesting behind this or is it just there?
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A quick break from the brooches to just show these little bits I picked up for curiosity's sake.

I think this is a broken pin?



And a horribly stuck on thingy to make it into a...hat pin? Lapel pin? Its something off of a champagne bottle based off of the writing, but the lady is just so lovely.

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Very nice.

 

Okay back to brooches, but these come with questions.

These are a really lovely pair of Italian filigree brooches, very nicely made. They're stamped 925, along with the maker's mark. BUT I can't find the maker, and there's some odd/contradicting marks on the pin of the butterfly.




They're both stamped with the same manufacturer's mark. All three marks pictured are from the butterfly, but the bottom left is also on the rose's pin.
Now I did think it said 185 GE, but I think now its 195, certainly seems that way from the photos. The bottom middle photo looks like a lady facing right, but there's no Italian mark that's similar, except one province that's not Genoa.

There is a brand called BellaGioia that says they brand their jewelry BA, but I can't find a photo of it. They work is sterling, then plate in Rhodinium and/or Gold, which feels right with these, but I'm not sure.

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And finally, this tie clip. Its marked 925 18k
My question is, what date are we looking at here? I had a little look and came across a video listing characteristics of 30s-60s tie clips, but the backs look very different to this. Does this give Deco vibes? I do like South/Central American styles so I think its rather nifty!


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No, the motifs are pre-Columbian inspired, the back is Modernist.
It is Peruvian, probably 1960s.
The original of the gold figure is on the Sun Gate at Tiwanaku, Bolivia.
It was used by the Peruvian phone company when I was there in the 1970s, as a winged messenger. It was even on the cover of the phone book, really nice.

 

ALSO the grime on that Czech brooch is really stubborn, a little silver polish won't be an issue will it?

 

Ah lovely thank you for the info! It is super cute, I like it the more I look at it haha

 

I've really got to stop spending but...

But I'm not sure I can part with it just yet


& so the conundrum starts !!!!!!!!!

u have to sell, to buy more.....
so it's not always possible to keep the best stuff........but that can pay off handsomely in the long run !!!!!

 

The stork is not Art Nouveau, it is not stylized as Art Nouveau would be

Art Nouveau would take an image of a flower, woman, insect, whatever and stylize it with flowing lines and intermingling forms, it would not be a realistic view.

I have a book called Studies in Plant Form and Design published in 1900, it gives examples of how to take a plant form and make it stylized into the then new style that was eventually called Art Nouveau. Here is an example from the book:

A realistic view of crocus:



An Art Nouveau design of crocus used for a book cover:

 

That French medallion was made by a company who also made religious medals. Dunno as it's worth a pile, but it's fun finding it.

 

Rachel-You're in a rich picking area,treasure this time.You can have the eye & the mind-but when the well's dry,it's dry (or there's overwhelming competition !).
If You can raise more cash-now'd be a fruitful time to buy,buy & buy.

 

Are you sure that last one isnt a money clip ?

 

Some beautiful items there. Love the butterfly, snail and floral one.

 

That's exactly my issue with my two best finds! Both necklaces, one rare, the other rarer and early 60s. The more I find out about them the more I like them, but they would fund quite a few more finds if I sold them!

 

Oh of course! Thank you for the example, that makes so much sense. I took the natural subjects and ran with it haha! Looking online I have a revival dancing crane brooch, which I think was on another thread, which brought up AN. So in my head crane/stork = AN I do love that stylized look though.

So what's my stork then? The hardware suggest earlier, but the edges seem cut and stark, and unlike other characteristics of the time...

 

The piece with the 185 or 195 GE is Italian. The GE is the region and the number is the registration of the maker/

 

Oh that is fun! Did you search Karo? I only searched the back of it and came up with a village/winery in the Champagne region.

Oh I'm not sure actually. I don't think I was aware there was such a thing before you mentioned it

 

Honestly I'm tempted to do so. In winter the well will be very dry, because the vide greniers stop and won't start until at least March. That's the only place I look because we go to them anyway and they're the least risk. It does feel risky to not worry SO much about selling right now, its tempting to slow down the purchasing until I've seen some return on the items I have. But like you say if the well is dry....

 

GE is the province of Genoa and the way the mark is designed makes it 1968 or more recent.