Featured The Great Big Lot of Antiques (Stick pins, brooches, necklaces, earrings)

Agree w/ AJ- You're buying in bulk & beginning your collecting adventures. A lot of the Jollies I've known have been doing this their whole lives-50 years of constant study !

 

It depends on which part of the tusk, outer layers or inner, & which direction they are cut, with the grain or cross grain. The pendant has been cut with the grain. The oft-mentioned Schreger lines only appear on cross cut sections.

 

The cameos are lava, but appear molded rather than carved.

Scarab beetle jewellery was popular when Egyptology was all the rage, 1920s

 

Nice finds!
Agree with elephant ivory. Most likely Congo indeed. I have some similar bits and pieces and rings lying around.

 

Agreed. I was going to mention those lavas if someone didn't beat me to it. If I were a seller I'd be ashamed of myself with all that undisclosed damage, but if it meant gettig the pieces for pennies... oh well.

 

Well thanks you're all too kind haha, I do enjoy it, though I do wish some items would leave my house as quickly as they seem to be entering! That's what's fun about jewelry, hundreds of years to learn about!

Thanks for the indepth! That's super helpful.

And understood on the cameo, thanks for the term! My bugs are 20s not victorian/napoleon III then, good. I'm glad there's not too much age since they're damaged.

Thanks @Dessert58! I think a dive into ivory and bone will be my reading this weekend.

So would I! He's not responded to my polite message of 'oh do you have the clasp? Its broken and not in the packaging' We shall see. It worked out to everything costing 1.33e per piece, so I can't be too mad, but that brooch in particular would have paid for 3/4s of the purchase price lol.

 

At that price point I wouldn't cry too hard either. It is annoying when the star of the show no-shows on you though.

 

Rachel-Was all one single lot or several ? (i'm a wee bit slow). My fave is also the broch that needs a clasp (i'd prob keep it).
PS-I'd imagine some of the 'odd lot' sellers wouldn't be too exacting on their descriptions ( 1-2 bucks a shot,pig in a poke !).

 

It is quite, but I think I'll be fine regardless haha. I must pay extra attention next time!

This was all from one lot. I've omitted a few items and some cute but nothing much brooches lol. It was a big one!

Oh tell me about the odd lot guys, the amount of descriptions I've had to read that say ONLY 'en l'etat' (as is condition) is incredible.

 

I'd imagine w/ all the 'odd lot' jewelry online it could take some serious studying.I'd also think there'd be some educated guesswork (blurred pics,etc),because anything obviously spectacular would generally go for some bucks.

 

i buy odd lots quite a few times.
i try to always calculate that the stars of the show might be broken.
Sometimes you win, sometimes you loose. You always get more knowledge though, and thats worth quite a bit.
You get better at 'betting' on those lots too over time...I try to always follow my gut feeling.
So far it has delivered.
I would definitely keep your micro mosaic brooch if I were you.
Kyratango explained a good way to attach a broken C somewhere here on the forum.
I tried my own version of it and it works.
So if nothing else you might be able to wear the brooch yourself.
I have a few of these nice micro mosaics laying around here too (indeed if ever stuff would leave my house as quickly as it gets in...)

 

The mark is probably a partial « Doublé or » in a rectangle (rolled gold).

 

oh goodness I thought I replied! Apologies, I was prepping for a trip to Turkey that weekend and then of course christmas when I got back.

Yes you're quite right Kyra, I'll check it again with that in mind.