Featured Where did this cross come from? Silver cross

It's more or less a Maltese and definitely silver, but it's not marked. I've been trying to figure out which country it came from at least, and how much hand work is in it if any.

 

Sorta looks like an Iron Cross,maybe German?

 

It's hand sawn and engraved ,somewhat sloppy workmanship with little cleanup.Any one could have made in a class,etc.

 

I figured it had some age on it, but ... yeah, can't say I'm surprised. It reminded me of those WWII sweetheart pieces.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huguenot_cross

 

I'm with Fid, a simplified Huguenot cross that has lost its spirit.
The dove dangle (Holy Spirit/Ghost) was lost and someone with no knowledge of the Huguenot background decided to replace it with any old silver dangle.
Originally it would have looked like this:


You see them a lot here, many Huguenots fled to the Netherlands when they were persecuted in France in the 16th century. Here it is often worn as a symbol of Huguenot cultural identity rather than religion.

 

finally an explanation why I'm haunted by ghosts when I had too much of holy spirit.

 

Interesting, thinks AJ nailed this one, another mystery solved!

The only thing i know about Huguenot's is that some emigrated to America starting in the 17th century because of religious persecution. A 17th century turners chair that was attributed to them built in Charleston SC was recently found to not have been built by Huguenot immigrants.

 

Hi,
A huge crowd of Huguenots settled in the Bordontown area of New Jersey. They came to help settle Queen Marie Antoinette when she escaped from France. Unfortunately she did not escape. There is till a large population in the Bordontown area.
greg

 

I'm a descendant of some Bavarian Protestants (talk about another endangered species) but no French ones that I know of unless that was the Alsatian contingent. All of my ancestors did end up in Jersey one way or another. How the cross got to Connecticut...dunno. There are lots of French names here, but they're all French Canadian.

 

Some of the early Dutch settlers were in fact Huguenots. They were called Walen, Walloons, along with other French-speaking Dutch people.
There were 30 Walen (Waalse) families, some of which were probably Huguenot, on the ship "Nieuw Nederlandt", which left the Netherlands for the New World in 1624.
The name Wall Street is probably derived from the Dutch name Walenstraat or Waalse straat, Walloon street. There are a few Walenstraten in the Netherlands as well.

 

It's up in the air as it were. It apparently had a wall or palisade up to protect against armed incursions, but also may have been Walloon St. So... good question.

 

Here is the turner's chair thought, for the past 100 years or so to have been built by Huguenots in Charleston SC. Recent research has pretty much debunked that theory, what caused the researcher to begin his quest? The chair is built from Cherry which was not readily available in the Charleston lowcountry area & always bothered him.

Turners Chair 1640-1660 Probably built in Chesapeake region Virginia & could be the earliest known American chair extant

 

Very nice, James. Age and beauty, a perfect combination.

 

LOL, YES! and a nice way to bring the thread where all threads belong, old furniture!

 

Here was I thinking all threads should be about ethnic jewellery. Keris, fans, snuff bottles will do as well.

 

not very impressed about the age of that chair. in Switzerland they recently moved the oldest wooden house from 1170.

 

I just hope they didn't move it to make way for an Ikea!

 

Considering the first permanent english settlement wasn't until 1607 in Jamestown VA., 1640 is pretty impressive, DAMN IMPRESSIVE! No one cares what impresses europeans these days, trust me.

 

Fid....from where was it moved and where did it go..Ballenberg ?