Featured Finds Thread

This cuff bangle took a leap of faith that there was something nice underneath the filth!.
Tests as silver with a strong red reaction but not marked. I feel it's slightly odd to have the detailed turning on the front (which was a to clean) but looks hand made on the inside.
Don't think it's particularly special? but the grain effect is unusual and attractive now its (nearly) clean.

 

It was done with a "lining engraver" ,it could have been made by a student,hobbyist,etc...... https://contenti.com/muller-straight-lining-gravers

 

So all those lines are hand done? I assumed machine turned but now I look they aren't entirely regular.

 

That would explain why it's not marked, if someone in a shed did the whole mess by hand.

 

It's not that bad!. I quite like it

 

The butterfly is gorgeous. Is it enamel?

 

It is indeed enamel, and no damage either. The brooch has a teeny weeny 925 mark.

 

Today I found lots of ways to waste time ...

 

These arrived today by mail:
Quaker weighted silver salt & pepper shakers. They will take me a bit to clean off but super cute for $5.

This guilloché picture frame. A small mark on the corner proclaiming Italy, 925 and another mark I can’t make out but will ask questions about in the silver forum. I polished this one up and put a photograph of my eldest.

 

I have the same (not quite identical) cutie s/p shakers and I think I paid about the same for mine. They're a great shape/weight -- feel good in the hand.

 

BMRT, I have a BUNCH of those shakers, from a few different makers. I just like the look AND feel of them!

Here's something a bit odd that I discovered over the years:

If the GLASS portion of one of the shakers ever breaks, the silver bases of these make delightful candle holders for those holiday-sized (often Swedish) candles. I even found some tiny silk, holly-leaf candle rings that fit around the little candles, and they really look charming at Christmas time.

If I remember, I'll snap a photo in a couple of months when I take out my holiday decor!

 

I adore that frame and the picture in it!

 

AMAZING!!!!

 

A few damaged pieces, stones that I can replace. The granite brooch is a bit of a lump. I liked the small delicate brass wire and glass bead butterfly. The ivy brooch is Boucher, again stones are missing. The buckle has lost its ribbon. The necklace beads are glass.
~

 

That necklace is Czech. Neiger-style? Those white beads may glow like crazy under blacklight.

I may go hit an estate sale tomorrow morning, but the runner has an employee at the jewelry table who thinks I'm scum. She may think everyone but her friends are scum - hard to say.

Today I went to two thrifts and a consignment. Dropped stuff at one thrift, and bought a Chico's necklace at the second. It went right to the consignment store. Meanwhile, this ball "thingie" showed up. It's been there a while, and as of last week it was marked down to $4. Carved ivory puzzle ball. It's illegal to sell ivory here if you know what it is, so officially I traded a Chinese mask for it. A friend loves ivory and it'll head her way eventually. There have to be five or six layers in there and I don't want to think about what it would have cost $30 years ago.

The other two necklaces are crystal with a 14k white gold clasp, and a big honkin string of faceted garnets. The big ones are so big they look black.

 

The whole pile, unquote.

 

I wouldn’t ever have thought these 3 white beads were uranium but they lit up like crazy as you suggested. Thanks!

 

Yep, those 1920s beads do that

 

As to the ivory puzzle ball, if a thrift shop is selling it, I would just, ahem, assume it is bone- who is to know? Fabulous find.

Don't let the runner at the estate sale get to you. I just laugh inside at those kind of people anymore. And sometimes I just laugh out loud at them. There are people who are just nasty to others for no discernible reason. I get this sometimes at yard sales, and I think it is because the seller has been bullied/badgered into selling things at a price they didn't want to, and they take it out on others. I was at a yard sale where a dealer said to the seller "I want to go through your house to see if there is any silver" and she bullied her way in! I was looking at stuff in the yard, and the seller was really nasty to me, for what reason, I have no idea, except maybe she felt foolish because she was bullied by the dealer. Who knows.

 

Kunisaba ukiyo-e print from 1820's (from what i am surmising it's probably original to period) - found at the salvation army store for peanuts -15" x 10".