Featured Large gold & rough back turquoise pendant necklace

I’d love some help please to unscramble this pendant.
It would appear to be made up of a collection of parts.
The main pendant is large at approximately 4.5cm long. There is no hallmark, tests very strong at 9ct gold but fades out at 14ct. It would appear to have been a brooch with the pin broken off maybe with the hallmark?
Two dangles also with no hallmarks.
The chain doesn’t hang correctly off the pendant and the two bails aren’t contemporary.
One bail is stamped something that looks like 800 but isn’t. B?? It’s not silver or gold so not part of the original set up.
The gold tone chain looks pretty elderly and has a registered design no on it but not easy to read.
Any ideas please about this turquoise with the rough back? I’m clueless as to what makes one piece of turquoise better than another and why.
Thanks for any help

 

I suspect Persian turquoise with that vivid colour. Agreed it started as a brooch.

 

Is that good?

 

Oh yes. The best, imo. That and Afghan.

 

Ok, that’s good! Thankyou. I’ve googled like mad but can’t find anything like this with the rough back. Do you have any suggestions for search terms, style, age? All I can find are pretty little gold brooches, nothing like this monster!

 

I will throw in my two cents as that is about all I have at the moment

Love the chain! I'd do some more research on that bit.

The color and matrix of the dangling bits does give the impression of Persian. I am not so confident on the brooch portion.

The two dangling stones are not matched to the brooch stone, nor do the settings. I would venture this was a marriage and would not be surprised if the two dangling stones at one point had another life as a matched pair of earrings. Jewelry makers tend to be persnickety about their stuff matching.

I always get excited with things like this as during the Victorian era it was not uncommon to take older piece and combine them with other bits to make "new" jewelry. (granted that is still done today) Personally, I would have my jeweler reset the pair of dangling turquoise as earrings (they'll sell much better) and have them find the actual center of weight on the converted brooch, so it hangs properly

Either way, nice little find you have.

 

Ah...you may find this a good read;

https://nevadacassidys.com/pages/turquoise-information

 

I can see your point on the dangles, given the back is better finished. Earring backs would be visible, not so the brooch back. If they were added to the main brooch, it was done a long time ago and very well. The frames do match, so it was probably part of a parure.

For a UK sale, I'd leave it be. The cost of converting back would be high: you'd have to find a jeweller who was careful not to heat the turquoise for a start. And historical alterations go quite well here.

You could always run it past Tooveys.

 

PS. Not that I'd sell it, obvs.

 

Do you think it has a reasonable value? I know we don’t do values on here but an £800 vets bill means something has to go. Have you used Tooveys? I’ve been shocked by our local commission fees!

I don’t want to but needs must.

 

I've used Tooveys in the past for good jewellery: some bashed up butterscotch amber! That's a nice lump of turquoise.

It can't hurt to email them. Yes, the commission isn't cheap but they get good prices.

 

I like the main stone a lot. The rough back being the host rock with the turquoise being a thin seam that was cut and polished parallel to its strike. It looks as though it was ground and polished unevenly to follow its thinness. This, I believe, verifies that this stone is definitely NOT a counterfeit stone and that the piece is one of a kind. The use of gold for the setting indicates that the creator felt that it was worth the trouble. To me, it ups its value above a run-of-the-mill piece. I'm not impressed by the dangles.

 

Thankyou, all very useful food for thought.

 

I’ll email them some photos and see what they say. Thanks for the advice

 

But do you know what you have? The large stone looks like Chrysocolla with Malachite or possibly low grade Eilat stone,not turquoise. The turquoise cabs were added as were the jump ring for the bail.

 

No,That’s why I’m here!

It didn’t occur to me that it might not be turquoise, I’ll do some research looking at those. Thankyou.

 

Looks dead right for old Persian turquoise to me. See what Tooveys say.

 

Wow, it's really beautiful ❤️