Featured Unmarked pin

I got this pin at an estate sale with a box of junk jewelry, it stood out from the rest with small pearls and a blue stone but there are zero makers marks. Any thoughts on the origin or or what the blue stone is? It is 1.75" x 1.75".

 

Breathtaking. It looks Austro-Hungarian to me, and the blue stone is likely glass.

 

It's beautiful!

 

Have it checked for silver, just in case

 

Silver, pearl and kyanite would be my first guess. NICE one!

 

I'm seeing silver too..

 

Are there marks on the hinged pin itself?

 

None, I looked with a magnifier

 

Definitely silver, no doubt about it. Could be anywhere between .750-.950, but I suspect .800-.850.
AH provincial silver was often not marked.

 

I have yet to find kyanite on AH jewellery, but never say never.
They often used glass.

 

Wow, this is really beautiful.
It certainly looks like silver to me. I love the dark patina.
I wonder if the piece was converted from a pendant into a brooch.
This top section looks odd, maybe a bail was cropped off? Of course I can't see the soldering where the pin was attached, so that's just a guess.


Also, perhaps the middle stone was once a bead. Is the dark vertical area a drill hole?


The pearls look genuine. The blue stones vary in color. Is it crazy to think that they might be sapphires?

 

I might (?) be seeing a growth plane in the upper half of the center stone and also inclusions, if they are not dust/dirt on the stone's backside. If so, I vote for amethyst. The 4 center stones match fairly well and are probably amethyst also the NE and NW stones do not match and do not match each other and very well could be replacement of pearls. Also, I agree with others that it is silver. What a nice piece!

 

On the backside, I've seen that oval sun before. I think on French & German sword/dagger hilts. As to dating it I'm going to guess the 1st half of the 1800's. But then, that's just my guess....