Featured Black spot paste?

This seemed to cause a bit of a furore when I posted it elsewhere, no idea why...anyway, I got this from my usual source ie car boot. Was 50p as I am tight as all hell, so nothing much invested in it.

Think it's silver, no idea what the *stone* is ... well,I mean I think it's glass. No idea why a piece of...glass...should warrant a setting? Why? Why would a plain piece of glass be made into a brooch?

 

(There is damage on the one stone, top right. When I originally posted it, one of the posters thought there was damage on more than one stone, but there isn't)
I last had this in my hands almost two years ago so I have no idea where it is now,so I can't measure it but it was quite big.
I think the glass may have had something behind it at one point, but what? xx

 

Oho. I do believe you have saphiret.

 

Mrs. B, I don't think it is, I can't see a veil? (Is that the one with a veil?)

I'm going to hunt down my brooch now.I can't upload pics though because I'm still on my ole slow lappy due to Luna Antics but I'm pretty sure it's just glass x x


( Were you on The Boards when I posted this Mrs. B? It was 2015...all of the posters were lovely regarding this...except one who seemed to take offence at it !)

 

It photographs like 'dragon's breath'. It is not clear to me whether these stones are natural opal or glass meant to imitate opal, or whether there are stones of both types out there. This is one for Any Jewelry.

 

Just had a look on google , found my brooch too...sadly, I am sure they are not the same. Saphiret looks to have a turquoise sheen? Mine just looks like...glass. Almost looks like butterfly jewellery that's gone bad but not quite x x

 

Sorry I didn't see this when I posted my reply!
I have a teeny,teeny piece of Dragon's Breath somewhere and it's unmistakenly so...pretty sure this is just glass but maybe it's damaged and looked better when it was new? x x
Thanks everyone! x x

 

Those veiny looking things are under the glass and they don't move

 

It looks like foiled art glass to me. I've seen plenty of sterling earrings & pendants set with "only" a glass piece, so it's not surprising.

 

It does look and feel like just glass. Think something may have been underneath it at one time to make it pretty though?

 

It does not look like sapphiret or dragon's breath to me.

Sapphiret:



Dragon's Breath:

 

Yes, mine doesn't have any veiling or anything, it is shiny though. Looks like a reflective surface and then ...glass on top. Wonder what the reflective surface is? It is shiny but totally static x

 

Here's a couple of examples of foiled art glass....

 

I have 10K gold rings with glass 'gems'. So definitely not surprising to find one in silver.

 

Taken from a website on how foiled art glass is made....

Pieces of very thin “metal” are infused into the glass giving it a metallic look and wavy shimmery properties.

 

It still looks pretty to me. What am I missing?

 

Then there's this, with a link to another about saphiret at the end:

http://www.ebay.com/gds/Will-the-real-Dragons-Breath-stone-please-stand-up-/10000000010402736/g.html

 

Could well be foiled art glass, doesn't really look like any of those either but it has to be something and I bet that's what it is x x

It is actually really pretty...glad I picked it up.
How old do you lovely peeps think it could be? x x

 

http://www.ebay.com/cln/gypsyjewels2/dragons-breath/82530713013

The post I find most interesting here is the beads, which cannot be foiled. They have the characteristic color play without the metallic glints. I imagine there was no single manufacturer nor complete consistency in the process of making the glass into gems for use in jewellery. Is it possible the glass was developed & then ways were found to enhance the effect, & that a piece like yours is an earlier example, without foiling?

Has a C clasp & looks like it once had a T hinge, which puts it back in time.

 

This is instructive: https://vintagejewelrysupplies.com/35-glass-opals