Featured Pietro duro bee / fly brooch - ID and age help please :)

I very much like its bold simplicity.

Debora

 

@KylieS - Do you live in France or just went there for shopping purposes? If you live there I will lay odds that @kyratango would be glad to drive over & hold the brooch for safekeeping till you decide.

 

I'd be highly surprised if that weren't gold too. I'd go over it with a fine-toothed comb...and a good loupe... because the French are fiendish about hiding their marks.

 

Oh I think the condition is quite nice for the age! I wouldn't do a thing to it. This should do well at auction based on recent trends. So pretty!

 

What a Beautiful STEAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Thank you, I'm so glad you like it! I'm not a jewelry buff - could you please describe how you reliably test for gold? I suppose I am going to have to have that tool in the kit too...

It's quite a French thing to subtly declare your politics with symbolism, be it on your plates, with your art or in your jewelry - the national pass time being discussions on politics and philosophy - there wouldn't have been many people here at that time who wouldn't know of the symbolism of the bee for France. So I'll probably still mention it as a possibility when (or if!) I list it...I'm not meaning that they knew Napoleon or anything btw - just that their view might have been he was a top bloke. (will try to come up with some better writing on the subject than that tho

 

Thank you! So you think auction? I haven't ventured down that route yet, I'm selling on Etsy...but not sure this is quite right for my store which is almost all ceramics :/ though it will get found it search, and there should be some cross over with clients. I suppose I could try it there first and see what happens, but I'd have to try a higher end price so that I don't feel I've undersold it.

Would love to hear some thoughts on types of auctions, online or auction house, etc and also if that's the right route? I'm not in a rush so can try selling it myself first maybe?

 

Thank you so much! That's high praise @Ownedbybear ! I love it, the workmanship and stone choices are divine

 

Thank you so much @Bronwen ! Do you think it could be a little later than the 1860 date given by @kyratango ? Or are you in that range too?

It's funny when you said that about the mark, the other day I was looking and saw the tiniest mark on the clasp but couldn't make it out, then when I looked for it again when photographing couldn't see it at all. So I will be looking for that ding again now...will update you if I find anything!

 

Thank you so much ! I hadn't heard of Pomponne or pinchbeck for that matter (but that's why we come to the forums right??) so that's so helpful.

I will try to polish it dry, would you just use cotton cloth? Or is this a special jewelry cloth (I'm totally ignorant about these things as you can tell!!)

The more I look at this piece (and hear all the lovely comments!) the more I love it!

 

...and also, after looking again at these images, I'm off to the manicurist lickity-split

 

Thank you so much! I will be very careful with it, I don't think I will clean the stone much, maybe a little around the edge.

 

Yes we live here!

 

Oh gosh I have looked amd looked but can't see anything at all...well I thought maybe a ghost of a number 29 on the rim, but now I think just coincidental scratches. There are a few tool marks I've seen but nothing I can see that looks like a mark...

 

Just stopped in to see what all the BUZZ was about!

very nice piece!

 

Get yourself a sunshine cloth or two, that’s the best thing.

 

Thank for the tip @Ownedbybear - that's so helpful!

 

Just using the aggregator / search site that's highlighted on the first page of he forums, prices are crazy for these ...

LOVELY VICTORIAN 10K GOLD PIETRA DURA BUTTERFLY BUG HAT STICK PIN | eBay

ANTIQUE 15K GOLD PIETRA DURA / ASHFORD MARBLE MOSAIC BUTTERFLY BROOCH c1850 | eBay

And I don't like these ones as much as my bee - no bees to be seen on the listings so far...

 

Here's a superior one (well the mount is superior! the stone is about even IMO ; )
Around 1890 Beautiful Pietra Dura Brooch With Peace Dove - Etsy Spain

 

If it were me I couldn't bring myself to sell it. However, if I was going to sell it I would put it on an ebay auction but start it at the lowest price you would be fine with letting it go. If that doesn't work out, I would put it high in my Etsy shop with a little wiggle room to negotiate with people. Might be a long tail item? Gorgeous though.