Featured Did I score a very old Egyptian silver Bedouin bracelet?

I picked this up today and did some research on it... I believe it to be from Assiut and before the year 1916 due to the Tughra marking. Also, made from 800 silver. Am I right or wrong? Any info is appreciated, here is the resource I used https://www.silvercollection.it/EGYPTSILVERHALLMARKS.html

 

we get a lot of silver pics here.....but this bracelet .....never mind the marks......it looks like silver...it even smells like silver !!!

nice find...I'd wear it..

 

It's marked as 800 silver, but I think the assay office looks more like Cairo than Assiut. Looking at the silver site, I see the 800 mark is in the modern format, with the assay office above the numbers. Looks like you are correct about its being pre-1916, if the Silver Collection has got it right. Think AJ may have a book that includes some of this stuff. Nice, classic, Egyptian cuff.

 

@Any Jewelry

 

It is a beautiful classic Siwa bracelet. Probably originally made in Cairo, for use in the Siwa Oasis near the border with Libya. Siwa had its own style, but didn't make its own jewellery, most was made in Cairo.

You are right. It has the old Tughra mark, but was probably offered for sale again after 1916, which meant it had to be assessed, assayed and marked again in compliance with the assay law of 1916.
Unfortunately the Tughras are too worn tp see the important details we need to find out the period, and the later marks being punched in the Tughras don't help either. With Tughras the devil is in the detail.

Those Siwa bracelets are wonderful. Strong and heavy, and as you say, you can smell the silver from the photo. In spite of their weight they are comfortable to wear. I have two, and sometimes wear both of them, in the old tradition.

 

Beautiful bracelet!!! I’ve ended up with more than my fair share of Egypt made silver. It’s some of the best silver work I see of the last 100 or so years. Yours older obv. The trouble is that despite the great work it’s often not as desirable as the work should dictate. The market overall doesn’t seem to value most silver from Egypt as much as from other places in my experience. With this bracelet I bet your experience will be different. This is just a thought I had the other day. Sitting and marveling over a nice piece of Egyptian silver and realizing if it had European hallmarks it would be bring much more money probably. Good luck with yours! Jewelry seems to be a frequent exception vs. other silver items.

 

Thank you all!!

 

It's truly beautiful! What a find!

 

That is because of us ethnic jewellery collectors, we value a good piece.
Siwa cuffs as such aren't rare, but one this old is. They always fetch nice prices whatever the age, probably because they aren't overly ethnic, so very wearable, and they are such excellent quality.
I imagine this oldie certainly would be special in the right auction, my fellow collectors would be all over it.

 

Hnh.

I think I have one very like that in the Hoard. I need to go seek it out.

 

I was thinking the same thing on the look of this one not being overly ethnic and very wearable for someone today! In addition to “ethnic” Egyptian silver jewelry I was also thinking of the Egyptian revival style stuff made in Egypt.

 

Egyptian Revival always uses ancient Egyptian imagery, hence Revival (of ancient Egypt). Siwa bracelets don't, so no one will recognize them as Egyptian Revival bracelets. And they aren't.

 

To clarify I wasn’t insinuating any connection between this piece and Egyptian revival. Two distinct trains of thoughts.