Featured Sterling silver pendant Edinburgh 1735?

Help on this wee Scottish sterling silver targe pendant is very welcome.
I can't believe my eyes, the marks are worn but I read them as Edinburgh (ok so far) with an italic F for 1735 (?). Am I right? And can anyone indentify the maker?
The diameter of the targe (Highland shield) is 2.5 cm/0.98".
Thanks for looking.

 

Hey AJ!

That is really cool. I could only dream of finding something this nice. I am sorry that I can't help with telling you anything about it but I did run the images through some filters to try and bring out some detail in the markings...hopefully it might help someone who knows something more about these.



Take care from Australia!!

Jason.

 

Hi Jason, thanks, it is much more defined now. Big help!
The pendant was my mother's. She bought a lot of jewellery, a family tradition for many generations. My sister-in-law is Scottish, and we often visited her relatives in Edinburgh as well, like an extended family.
But I have a sneaking suspicion my mother bought the pendant somewhere on the Continent, she recognized the targe, when others might have thought it an insignificant little pendant.

 

My pleasure, I would like to try and help where I can Knowing now that the pendant was found by your Mother is even better, I like the thought of these kinds of things staying within the same family. I know I have things from my parents that I will never part with. I hope you can find out some more about it after all these years.

 

I thought so. Could it be fake? Not that I can see any sense in putting fake marks on something so small.

 

Letter looks right. I think the bale is a replacement.

 

Yes, it is one of those run of the mill clip-on things, sterling. The chain is also not of the period, also sterling.

 

I'd assumed the chain was new, indeed.

 

My mother bought it in the 70s, the chain could be 50s or 60s, but that doesn't mean anything valuewise.

 

One thought on this. It had serious symbolism at a time when things Scots were being supressed. It's almost certainly a Jacobite protest emblem - a thing worn in secret, which would have got you imprisoned if discovered. You might contact the Museum of Edinburgh or the National Museum of Scotland. Another possibillity is the auction house who sold this lot: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/luxury/c...e-rebellion-memorabilia-at-lyon-turnbull.html

 

I suspect it does have something to do with Highland-Jacobite identity. I don't think it is a strongly Jacobite symbol though and the prohibition of Highland dress etc. was only after the '45, if I remember correctly 1746.

 

Yes, here it is:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Act_of_Proscription_1746
Before that was the Disarming Act, which pertained only to arms. But since a targe is a shield, this certainly could be a protest pendant. Wow, Jacobite!

 

The formal prohibition was indeed later, but Scottish symbolism of any kind was very very frowned upon. It took Victoria's sentimentality for all things Hibernian to reverse it and that was over a century later. I do think this is a Jacobite emblem. If it is, the value is disproportionate to the size, to say the least.

 

Any ideas?
And could I sell it to Nicola Sturgeon?
I've been humming Jacobite songs, I am inspired now.

 

I'd sell it in the UK. Tooveys are really good on jewellery, but you'd probably do better in Scotland. Your best bet is Great Western Auctions in Glasgow.

http://www.greatwesternauctions.com/valuations/request-a-valuation/

You don't need to be selling it, they'll give you an idea anyhow.

 

Thanks Obb. Isn't that Anita Manning's place? Lovely, I like her. I hope she likes my pendant as much as I like her.

 

It is indeed, and she gets very good prices. I think it's the sort of thing she'd love.

 

I sent in a valuation request to Anita's team.

Jason, I added one of your pictures, thanks again.

 

I'll be interested to see what they say.