Featured New Member with Locket ID Request

I bought this locket for my wife and have no idea of its age or country of origin. It tests as 15KT and has no markings.
It's pretty beat-up but we still like it.
Any information from the experts out there is greatly appreciated.

 

The back.

 

No surprises this one missed getting marked; that's one old locket. If I were taking a wild guess I'd say circa 1870, but the construction has me wondering if it's not even older. Usually the ones with glass in them were meant to hold a lock of hair.

It may be rolled gold instead of solid 15k, and that would explain the lack of a mark. The Victorians made pieces so well they sometimes fool gold testing kits. I'd also bet good money the bird in the center is silver.

 

Very pretty.
Agree that this was probably meant to hold a lock of hair.

I think date would be mid 1800s.

 

Welcome, Bryce.
It is absolutely beautiful, thank you so much for showing us. Your wife is a lucky lady.

The style period is Biedermeier, a German/Continental term for the period of ca 1840-1860.
This specific style with those round very textured stippled petals and swirls is attributed to Austria and southern Germany.
I have some more modest brooches in the same style, and researching them I have found both Schwäbisch Gmünd (S Germany) and Salzburg (Austria) mentioned as manufacturing towns for these beauties.
Although the culture of these neighbouring regions is closely related, my feeling is yours was made in Salzburg, it has the exuberance of Austro-Hungarian jewellery.

evelyb has a point when she mentions the possibility of good quality rolled gold. One of my brooches tests as gold, but is marked 800 for .800 silver fineness.
Obviously the bird on the locket is silver, to make it stand out from the floral background.
On some parts of your locket, like the petals in the detail below, it looks like there is tarnished silver showing through the gold. It is still a very good quality piece though, stunning workmanship, and both silver and gold were expensive at the time.



A bit about stunning workmanship, it is also 'workwomanship'. In Schwäbisch Gmünd these pieces were made by families. The delicate filigree was often made by women and girls, the components were assembled by the men. It was probably the same in Salzburg.

 

Welcome, Bryce!
Stunning piece It must have had some old repairs, the bird's eye is made from a watch movement ruby (hole for the axe).
The turquoises are glass, which can be consistant with East Europa provenance, as @Any Jewelry said maybe Austro Hungarian.
I have a locket brooch which had once an ornate cover like yours. Mine is undoubtly Australian as it has emu and kangaroo on the frame, and hand colored photos signed by an Australian photographer.
Which country did you get your locket from?

 

The dark red beads, alternating with the turquoise glass flower hearts, are also glass. Most glass in the region was manufactured in Bohemia, which was part of the Austro-Hungarian empire at the time. Bohemia is now part of Czechia.

 

Mine, not gold, you can see the hinge for the lacking cover on top:

 

This one (found on Pinterest), is described by the Australian seller as early 1870s Australian jewelry, 15 ct gold.

 

Oh, beautiful, kyra, I love it! And the ladies are also wearing stunning jewellery. Thay have the same face, what do you think, same lady, different ages, or mother and daughter?

 

AJ, yes, wonderful jewelry on them! I thought sisters (not a great age difference between the two, and hair fashion contemporary)

 

Kalmar has a site, and they have a shop in the historical Queen Victoria Building in Sydney, a top location.

http://www.kalmarantiques.com.au/

 

True. Sisters it is.

 

Thanks for the link!
I find strong similarities in the treatment of the flowers (textured metal, shape).
Could Bryce's locket be Australian? I never encountered other memorial pieces with hinged cover

 

Or, could those early Australian goldsmiths have been Austrian immigrants?
The 1850s goldrush brought people from all over the globe to Australia, and there was a sudden demand for skilled goldsmiths so rich gold merchant's wives could show off their wealth.
Even when we lived there people preferred 'Continental' gold and silversmiths. They were still regarded as the best craftspeople.

The colour of the gold on Bryce's locket, as well as the use of both rose and yellow gold, are more in keeping with Central European gold and gilt items.

 

Kyra, I think you'll like this link on Aussie goldsmiths:

https://www.jewellermagazine.com/Article/196/Past-and-present

A quote about the relevant period and style of your brooch:

Across Australia's eastern seaboard, the rapid discovery of gold in the mid-19th century generated great wealth and population expansion, especially in Melbourne, a young city that would soon become the cosmopolitan centre of Australian cultural life. "Marvellous Melbourne", as it came to be known, was soon marked by teaming boulevards like Elizabeth and Collins Street, where banks and trading companies built a financial capital and jewellers and luxury stores supplied the growing needs of their middle and upper class patrons.

But Australia's small jewellery-making industry could not cope with demand. Along with many other luxuries, jewellery was largely imported from Britain and Europe by the growing retail stores in Melbourne, Sydney and Hobart.

Blessed with invaluable raw materials, local jewellery making would finally blossom with the influx of skilled immigrant jewellers and goldsmiths arriving from Europe, the US, and Britain.

Anne Schofield and Kevin Fahy, authors of Australian Jewellery: 19th and Early 20th Century (1990), note that these professional jewellers "created jewellery in the naturalistic style then popular in Europe, using local gold, silver and gemstones, and incorporating decorative motifs of Australian flowers, plants, birds, and animals."

 

Very interesting link! Thank you AJ!
It is sure early Australian goldsmiths were immigrants! This country was too young for them to have been taught there

 

Exactly.
It also says in the article that the main Aussie goldsmith families are descendants of those immigrant goldsmiths. Nice to see tradition like that.