Featured Gold Charm fact check

I have a handed down gold charm that has a family story attached that I was hoping to see if the story fits the item. The small charm (1.2cm at its widest, and .5cm high not counting basket handle) is a cat in a basket. I think originally the cat was more upright, with both paws on the basket edge, but has been pushed in more, maybe to keep from falling out, as the cat is unattached. I thought the eyes on the cat were painted, but on closer look, they appear to be tiny stones, glass, or drops of enamel. The charm in the pictures below was supposed to have belonged to a girl in a well off, eastern US family. She passed away at the age of 12 in 1919. Several charms she had were split among her siblings (all boys) as remembrances, and they in turn passed them on to their daughters. Pictured below is one of them. Another I know of but don't have is mushroom with a ladybug on top of it, and a hedgehog or groundhog inside it. I can't find any makers marks, so this may be asking too much, but I was wondering if this charm fits the time period of 1907-1919. All I can see is what looks like a 14k mark on the bottom. I'm also curious about the history of charms such as this. When did they become a thing? I know they are still popular.

 

I wonder if that had a winding mechanism at one time to make the cat go up and down ?

 

I think it's too small and there is no room for that. I do think the cat may have been attached originally through the bottom though.

 

THAT is SO CUTE it's AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Love LOVE LOVE it!!!!!

EDIT: Have you taken the kitty out to see if it LOOKS like it was attached on the bottom where @smallaxe suggested it might have been??? Good point!! Also, as the image shows, it most definitely looks like a "14" so probably 14K?? And the kitty's eyes could be either glass or maybe small rubies.... I don't think they're painted on.....I'd say wait for others to check in on that......

 

A lovely story but... I would think your charm is more recent than that time period. I'd be interested to see what others think.

Debora

 

The story comes from the girl's niece, who is well into her 80's and has the mushroom charm I mentioned. The basket charm was the one her sister had.

 

Agree. They're not flat, they're inset.

I have a gold charm bracelet that was assembled in the 60s - 70s, so spent time perusing jewellery display cases for the next candidate, & have to say that this charm & the one you describe, which is also fanciful with a critter inside, are nicer, more elaborate, more delicately made than the ones from the period I remember. Charm bracelets go in & out of fashion; don't know what the style was when this girl lived, but I find the story of the provenance credible.

Is the lid of the basket hinged?

 

Not hinged.

 

For comparison, this is supposed to date to 1905.

Debora

 

Exactly. What strikes me is that the OP basket is actually woven, while later ones were made like the one on RL.

 

I agree! It's delightful!!!

 

'Flu pandemic perhaps?

 

Blood poisoning from a minor injury. She was the baby of the family, the only daughter, and beloved by her five older brothers. A family tragedy.

 

I see stones eyes!
This is charming!!!
Maybe the kitty was attached with a spring to the bottom of the basket

 

I really see no reason to question the story & suspect eyes are little rubies. Small synthetic (lab grown) ones came on to the market right about that time.

 

The more I looked at it, the more I was sure it originally had both paws on the edge of the basket. So I decided to effectuate a repair. After opening the basket a bit, and wiggling the kitty around a bunch I was able to get kitty out. Kitty is hollow, and appears to have been a sheet of gold formed into cylinder and then shaped. The lid would hold kitty in, but she would rattle around. I didn't want to solder, and don't have the tools, so used some beeswax (that I happened to be rendering from our beehives today) in the bottom to keep kitty in place in a way that should be easy to undo in the future if ever brought to be repaired properly.

After looking more, I also think the basket and kitty may have originally attached to bracelet on a very small loop that's been flattened down. Maybe it was on a necklace originally?

Still not sure what the eyes are made of. I need higher magnification for that.

 

A UV light will give you an idea whether eyes are ruby or not.

 

I didn't know that about rubies. I went into a dark room and used my inexpensive UV light on it. Under longwave UV, I didn't really see any fluorescence. Under shortwave UV, the little eyes appeared to fluoresce kind of yellowish (not reddish). The eyes are so small, that it's hard to see well. But under shortwave, the eyes did stand out next to the gold which was virtually black.

 

Wonder if the metal behind is affecting the way the light is coming back out. My mineral guide says ruby has strong pleochroism, with one of the colors being a yellowish red, but does say it fluoresces as deep red. However, author would be talking about natural mined stones & these may be lab grown, with somewhat different properties.

Good job on getting Kitty back to saying Hello again. How many hives do you have?