Featured Help needed with brooch/pendant

Discussion in 'Jewelry' started by Dessert58, Sep 19, 2024.

  1. Dessert58

    Dessert58 Well-Known Member

    IMG_1937.jpeg IMG_1935.jpeg IMG_1936.jpeg IMG_1934.jpeg IMG_1938.jpeg So I bought this pendant/necklace online (came from france) because I was sure these stones were diamonds (the way they are cut and their irregular shape) and that would make this pendant/brooch a nice Georgian piece. Maybe a converted button or something similar. A no brainer to me.
    But when I got it home, I tested it, and low and behold...they are NOT diamonds! Not even close.
    I think maybe they could be rock crystal/chrisolite or something else, because they do show up as something harder than glass/paste.
    But since they are not diamonds, I started to question everything!:nailbiting:
    Could they maybe be Indian and a bit like more modern? Or are they still georgian, as their cut and the back makes me think. Maybe Portuguese? Argggg! the uncertainty makes me crazy!:hilarious:
    Some help/advice on this one is needed.
     

    Attached Files:

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  2. shamster

    shamster Well-Known Member

    Is there a mark on the back of the bale?
     
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  3. shamster

    shamster Well-Known Member

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  4. Ownedbybear

    Ownedbybear Well-Known Member

    That back is Georgian.
     
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  5. Any Jewelry

    Any Jewelry Well-Known Member

    Lovely brooch, Dessert. The stones look blueish with a hint of green, maybe aquamarines?

    I am also trying to think of the name of similar stones. They used to be very fashionable in the 18th-19th centuries, but are rarely used now.
    Please memory, where are you when I need you!:arghh::banghead::banghead:
    Yes, there seems to be an oval indentation.
     
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  6. Dessert58

    Dessert58 Well-Known Member

    Shamster and AJ, thank you very much dor your reply. Indeed there is a mark on the back of the bale, I hadn't looked into it because I think the bale and brooch mechanism maybe later.
    There is the picture of a swan in the inside of the cartouche.
    The stones seem to have a greenish-gray hue
     
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  7. Dessert58

    Dessert58 Well-Known Member

    So here is a picture of it next to a Portuguese chrisoberyl bow pendant and a spinel-center Spanish cross. The round brooch with clear pastes is around 1830 French...it looks so different from all of these. (Its not spinel because it doesnt have the crazy fluorescent hue under blacklight) IMG_1950.jpeg IMG_1951.jpeg
     
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  8. Dessert58

    Dessert58 Well-Known Member

    Also, here is a picture from some Portuguese earrings with chrysoberyl stones...it doesn't look similar to me.
    Iberian jewelers from that time already knew very well how to cut less hard stones in exact shapes.
    Why did they cut these stones in such an irregular shape?
    I m still not sure about it
    IMG_1949.jpeg
     
    kyratango likes this.
  9. Any Jewelry

    Any Jewelry Well-Known Member

    Tongeren used to have a swan mark for silver.:playful:
    So did other W European gem cutters, which doesn't mean it can't be W European.
     
  10. Dessert58

    Dessert58 Well-Known Member

    AJ, really? Thats amazing!
    They have an amazing Gallo roman museum :D
     
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  11. Dessert58

    Dessert58 Well-Known Member

    Also,
    Dont you like the expression on late Queen V 's face?
    That is what I call 'longing' :cat:
     
  12. Dessert58

    Dessert58 Well-Known Member

    So, the chrysoberyl bow and the spinel cross show up as much harder than the pendant. My guess is its foiled rock crystal
     
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  13. Any Jewelry

    Any Jewelry Well-Known Member

    I know, I've been there. It isn't too far from where I live. The former village where I live is also named after the Tungri, btw, just like Tongeren. It's all Tungri tribal land.;)
    For her dear Albert.:)
     
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  14. Dessert58

    Dessert58 Well-Known Member

    Aj, I have only been there once, during my final Latin year. I m sure I will take my husband and the kids there in the near future.

    ok, so I m guessing my pendant might still be georgian, maybe rock crystal.
    Thats fine for me.
    Although I would have preferred it to be all big shiny diamonds :cat:
    There is a lesson there to be learned for me: not all that looks like diamonds, IS actually diamonds :angelic:
     
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  15. kyratango

    kyratango Bug jewellery addiction!

    To my eyes the stones look as diamonds. Just not the purest clearest ones.
    What tester do you have?
    I got a cross with what I could swear was diamonds from pics... I tested them with my cheap tester and negative result... till I realized those very enclosed in setting stones are very thin.
    I cleaned the surface with windows cleaner and set my tester on smallest carat. BINGO! Positive for diamonds!
     
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  16. Dessert58

    Dessert58 Well-Known Member

    Omg kyra!!! You are amazing, it worked!!
    Cleaned with window cleaner, set on smallest carat...those are diamonds after all! :zombie::zombie::zombie:
     
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  17. kyratango

    kyratango Bug jewellery addiction!

    The testers only test for conductivity, not hardness!;)
     
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  18. Dessert58

    Dessert58 Well-Known Member

    I m still amazed because this cheap tester never failed me on the tiniest of tiny senailles in Flemish jewels.

    But then again, I was absolutely shocked to see the first result on this pendant, because to me, they absolutely looked like diamonds.

    Kyra, thank you very much for your advice. :cat:
     
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  19. RachelW

    RachelW Well-Known Member

    How stunning!!!
     
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  20. Any Jewelry

    Any Jewelry Well-Known Member

    Yay, kyra to the rescue!:woot::woot: And window cleaner of course.:playful:
     
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