Featured Help with Karbra Brooch and a bracelet

Hi All!

I had a second job at a Goodwill store for 10 years (best job ever!) and occasionally would purchase a piece or two of jewelry. I'm not a fan of jewelry so it's all packed away in a drawer. I always thought this pin was costume but recently I found the pearl to be gritty to the tooth so I pursued info on the maker, which is out of business. In any event, can anyone assist with whether or not this is costume or real?
I also had purchased this bracelet and again - is it costume? Either way, any thoughts on when it was made? Thanks so much!

 

Karbra1961
I think it is gold and pearl.
Bracelet sterling.
Silver. Old China.???

 

The bracelet looks 30s Chinese export, probably jade. Very nice.

 

I agree, the bracelet is pre-WWII Chinese Export. Jade mounted in silver.
The silver content in Chinese Export jewellery in those days was usually in the .800-.900 range, often towards the lower end. Sterling (.925) would be highly unusual.

 

All the information is much appreciated and I thank you all. I most particularly enjoy historical information more than anything else and I do my best to research, but again, I'm not so fond of jewelry as I am of other vintage items that I find myself drawn to. Thank you again!

 

The brooch is either 14 or 18 kt
Gold.
The maker IS kabra co.
Casting company in NYC.
MOSTLY gold. The number after COPYRIGHT IS YEAR created.
About bracelet I agree with CHINESE import but the first PICTURE shows A MARK of 5?5 I'm guessing a closer look may really be 585 that equals 14kt gold.

 

The picture below shows a mark that says SILVER, which is why Nathalie and I said silver:

 

Tweaked it a little:

 

The pre-WWI export bracelets were usually silver.

https://www.industrynet.com/listing/382713/karbra-co

The company is still in business. I'd strongly doubt precious metal, but costume companies in that era often used real pearls and lower grade real stones in costume settings. Swoboda was famous for it. Krementz too.

 

If they marked the copyrighted company name and year that clearly you’d think they would mark the metal purity as clearly if it were pertinent. When viewed at the angle in second photo and zoomed in the back has that textured finish that many costume and many fewer “real” pieces have. I’ve always wondered why so many costume pieces have a textured finish to the metal. Alarmist wondered if it was to intentionally say “I’m costume”.

 

That too. Also - the textures sometimes let us know whodunnit, even if not marked or jobbed out. A lot of D&E pieces made for Weiss, and marked as such naturally, have details on the back that are dead giveaways. Ciner circles are another prime example. 1928 jewelry company too - it's a way of knowing whodunnit even if a hanging tag falls off or was never there.

 

Same, but I assumed it was dressing up a necessary function... like making it textured to save on metal, or to more easily de-mold it.

 

Possibly that too.

 

The front looks like it has a Florentine finish and missing gold plating in the cuts.

 

You can get an inexpensive acid test kit for gold, silver, and platinum...but you have to scrape or file a bit of the item to test.

My preferred method is to make friends with a local non-chain jeweler and have them test it for me. More likely for them to have the equipment on hand if they deal in estate jewelry. A pawn should also be able to test. Of course any business may ask for a small fee to do this.

 

No files please.
Test kits usually come with a testing stone, which you should use to avoid damage. Just rub the piece on the stone until it leaves a stripe. You place a drop of the testing liquid on the stripe.

Filing lets you know if it is gold all the way through the file mark, or just a thin layer. But it damages the piece, which means you are left with the melt value only because no one will buy it.
If you are uncertain about the result, take it to a jeweller to have it tested. Around here jewellers do it for free.

 

Ha we buy antique and vintage jewelry so clearly a little possible damage doesn't deter us from purchase! I don't file, but they do occasionally come with these kits which is why I mentioned them. My jeweler does testing of metals and stones for me for free as well. I once mentioned maybe I should get my own stone tester to leave him in peace and he told me absolutely not... That I always brought in amazing stuff for them to geek out about and he wanted to keep seeing it. So a friendly jeweler is definitely the best scenario! But I don't discount that they may ask for a little something in exchange before they know you.

 

I didn’t know the texture pattern could be an indicator of the manufacturer but that makes sense! Good to know.

Btw it’s too late to edit my post but I meant to type “Almost” in the place where “Alarmist” is. Lol.

 

I agree, you'd expect the gold content to be marked if they went to the trouble to stamp the date... HOWEVER, looking online at other KARBRA pearl brooches ("61" and "63") they all claim to be tested, confirmed 14K and all unmarked as to gold content.

I would assume this piece is 14K until told otherwise by a test.