Featured gold Capucine cross- my first won lot from auction! With a little cross collection

It arrived hours ago - what a massive example! And even larger in reality as the conical bezels are very high.
However, problems are expected when you deal with auction house, tho not a big deal. I noticed this hallmark which is not mentioned by them, and I researched about it finding out this would mean 9ct gold? As all other Capucine crosses I found has a minimun purity of 14ct I simply assume the same for this one. But, okay, afterall, it's less than 30 pounds per gram.

Also this bezel seems to coming out a bit, but not loose, shall I worry about it falling off? Not sure how they are fixed to the back, there's a dot in all bezel backs, looks like a screw fitting to me?

 

If the hallmark is too blurred, it says ET in a square. Since I don't have acid for high carat, it only passes 9ct, the rest unknown. Any comments appreciated!

 

Here's it in my collection! Enjoy

 

Yay!!!

That mark is used for old/antique gold that is below the French legal standard. So it was marked some time after it was made, and I assume it could well be 14ct. Tagging @kyratango to be sure.

Time to get acids for higher finenesses.

 

Just imagining things (again), or is there something else there in the mark?

 

Looks like the cones were pinned,can't tell from the photos if the cones were slide over the end of the cross and then pinned.There also appears to be excess solder in spots,it may have been repaired at one time.

 

Yes that’s what I got from internet, but it doesn’t appear to be lower than 9ct during the acid test, and the colour looks similar to 14ct or higher

 

I think there’s indeed something, but unsure what it looks like, cant really describe it

 

Yes I did noticed something like glue at that particular back, guess I will add bit more glue myself to secure it

 

Someone was asleep at the switch when that went up for auction, if you got it for gold weight. Even with a few age-related dings.

 

yes some dealers would list it more than 2000 pounds, more than three times of what I paid

 

Concur with AJ!
Time to get your loupe out, as Marote pointed, there is something under the ET in your mark.
Normally the ET mark is rectangular and put on foreign (ÉTRANGER) unmarked pieces in 9ct gold or silver under 800. A rather square one is used (and very rarely seen!) with the caratage under ET.
From the color, your cross is higher than 9ct!

 

Lol I tried my best to photo it, and my eyes cannot tell what it is. The closest I can describe is a III with the middle I higher than others. There also appears to be something at the lower right corner, but could be unclear edge, it’s just so tiny but I did think it’s higher than 9CT ( definitely not lower than 9CT as ET normally indicates), and since all other crosses are made of high carat gold

 

Btw do you think it was made in early 19th? The auctioneer said late 19th tho

 

Difficult to date without a French hallmark as regional jewellery was made in same traditional work craft for nearly 150 to 200 years.
Oh and it may not be glue but shellac to give strength to the thin formed gold. Don't heat it as it will bubble and melt all over (it happened to me as I wanted to repair a Scottish piece with inlaid stones with baking polymer clay ) other possibility is black enamel (the non damaged part seems very smooth and glassy).

 

haha okay I would avoid wearing it under burning summer sun thank you

 

Btw if you don't mind discussing - do you think it is always necessary to test the authenticity of gold? Logically, 1. it's super heavy; 2. there are no examples made of other metals than high carat gold, if there's cheap substitutes there should be plenty; 3. it looks fine without any signs suggesting gold plated or vermeil, thus don't think it could be anything else. However, I'm always paranoid about buying fake gold as it happened to me before thus I can't stop myself testing it from time to time. Will you ever doubt the posibillity of it being something else than gold?

 

I've meet many dealers who told me they simply don't test gold pieces as the look and making should tell them everything. I'm not that experienced to be that confident tho!

 

New find: I noticed two lines of very light inscriptions, read as:
(1) 436
B(13)/CB(13)/----
what could that mean?

 

Another paranoid question: is the soldering here strong enough to prevent the cross from falling apart?