Featured Questions: Filgree scrimshaw bracelet marked "CHINA SILVER"

Here is one of three pieces of jewelry I brought home from a potential new client. It measures 7 1/4".

Here is where it's marked inside.

What does that mean? I've heard of German Silver, but this is new to me.
I'm wondering too if it may be old, as the client seemed to think. In which case, how old? Here is a close-up of one link.

And a close-up of the filigree itself.

As ever, many thanks! (I'll show a Native American necklace in a second thread.)

 

I guy at the flea market last summer had half a table of them. They look 100+ years old. Brand new from feebay.

 

I appreciate your weighing in on this. But if there are knockoffs, there must surely be some genuinely old ones out there. I haven't met the owner personally, but I do know fairly surely that this is not a recent acquisition. She is my age (senior citizen), and looking to downsize.

 

Hi northern! I went through a large number of posts on the 925 Forums and I'm afraid the news isn't good. The general concensus is that the jewelry items marked this way are likely to contain little to no silver. In fact there are even British laws that refer to "China Silver" in the same way as nickel silver. There were some that did indicate that this mark is not uncommon for pieces from as early as the 1920's, so it might be as old as that.

 

That is good information, as usual from you. Thank you!

 

I don't see the listings on ebay that were there last summer. They are no longer listed on Alibaba either. Maybe Chinese labor has gotten too expensive for handmade pieces like this.

There were originals circa 1900-1930. Yours does not appear to have genuine age.

 

I can't tell from the photos if this is actually ivory. It could be plastic made to look like ivory.

 

I think it is likely bone

 

The one close up I see had no marks whatsoever, which is why it's hard to tell.

 

Hi,
Most of the Chinese silver made for export to the West just has the China stamp especially on pieces from the 40/50s. I used to buy a lot of it from dealers who did not test them, thinking they were new and non silver. Some of it was even higher than sterling.
greg

 

The first and third scrimshaws look to have been replaced. See how loose the bezel is around them.



The second and forth seem to fit the bezels properly.

 

That may be due to the thickness of the scrimshaw....sometimes settling into the bezel low enough so the rim takes dents from wear.

 

This isn't as tight a close up as the other, but you can still see how snug the bezel is here.

I suspect this filigree work was done in the 1920s and 30s.
Early craftsmen wouldn't have let a bracelet go out with that poor a bezel fit (as shown in my previous post) around the scrimshaw.

 

im that kinda person in a dilemma, that i dont trust chinese silver what so ever, but i really like chinese export silver... i suppose what it comes down to in this case, is simply to have it tested

 

Get it tested. The CHINA mark looks right for 1920s or 30s, and much filigree was made there then. I've seen it with and without Silver/925 marks. It isn't modern.

 

I'd test it before listing it, but odds are it's silver and old. I've seen a fair bit of Chinese wirework and this isn't the new garbage.

 

Agreed. I own some rather nice pieces.

 

This does look like an older Chinese export. I have had many similar pieces that were sterling or higher and the filigree and mark looks right. Best to test to be sure.

 

Thank you all for weighing in. I have just discovered a crack in the first scrimshaw. Perhaps this will help us to learn what the material is.

 

Scrimshaw usually refers to etched whale or bone done by sailors. If you say scrimshaw, that's what most people will think of. Ivory has schreger lines. Bone usually has tiny pinpoints where blood vessels went through it. I am not seeing that here, but it could just be photos.

The first photo shows the Schreger lines in ivory. The second shows bone. Some bone isn't as spotted as this, but there is always some indication of pits and dots. Resin can be made with powdered bone or ivory, but you can usually tell. I think from the photos yours looks too smooth and perfect to be either bone or ivory. I think it's resin.