Posted 10 years ago
freiheit
(1223 items)
This is a silver bar pin with beautiful marcasite. I tried to capture the brilliant shine of the little stones - but failed! When the light is right the marcasite sparkle like diamonds.
The pin is very small; it’s a little over 2 inches long but very thin. It has a c-clasp, and based on this I believe it could be rather old. Although it is not marked as such, I think it is sterling silver. The only mark I found is a very small punch mark in the shape of a diamond.
I am not sure if this is just my imagination but I find that the older pieces of jewelry containing marcasite sparkle a lot more that newer pieces.
Thanks for looking:)
Thanks a lot, aghcollect and valentino97:)
Thanks, vetraio50:)
Thanks a lot, DrFluffy, Newtimes, mikelv85, SEAN68, and Agram.m:)
Very nice post ! I have one very similar that belonged to my Great Grandmother . I have never cleaned the sterling did you and what did you use . Mine would date late 1880's . Love yours !
Thanks, Manikin. I found this pin at the Value Village close to where I work. I am no expert, but based on my experience the pin is probably from about the same period than yours. The store is in the business of weighing and marking all silver now - and the prices are accordingly. This pin was sitting there for some time; they didn't realize that it was silver and so I got a good deal. Having said that, it looked really sad. I cleaned it with some really bad smelling brown stuff and a sponge from England. When I get home, I'll check what it is called. It stinks but works really well:)
Manikin, here is the link to the product I use for most of my silver. It works really well for most items - but I don't use it/or use it only very carefully for pieces with stones.
http://www.goddards.com/html/products/productDetail.php?id=4
Gudrun
Thank you freiheit ! I was afraid to use anything to harsh like tarnish and ruin the stones . I appreciate your link :-))))))