Posted 8 years ago
freiheit
(1223 items)
This is my last post for today. I have to get some work done - LOL.
I am not sure if my brooch is real tortoise shell or not but it certainly is made of an organic material and is very old. The inlay appears to be gold. At one point, someone cared enough about the brooch to have the pin and safety clasp put on/replaced. I think they did a pretty good job. I have seen several examples on line but no one of the ones I found had the suspended center part.
Reading about the way the shell was taken from the animal really made me feel bad. I also learnt that using tortoise shell is no longer permitted by law.
Thanks for looking
Very pretty pin, freiheit, and yes I agree, glad this practice is no longer allowed.
Beautiful piqué brooch, it is certainly turtleshell, I believe some latest were made of vulcanised or gutapercha.
Lovely!...:-)
Thanks so much for your comments, katherinescollections, kyratango, and inky:)
Many thanks for loving this brooch: antiquerose, inky, racer4four, vetraio50, Efesgirl, valentino97, katherinescollections, kyratango, mikelv85, aura, and jscott0363:)
Very beautiful freiheit. To see if it's real tortoise shell hold there is only one test but it will give perhaps damage so don't do it: To identify real tortoiseshell from material substitutes, apply a hot pin to a hidden spot. If the smell resulting from the hot pin smells similar to burned hair and a black spot develops, the item is likely real tortoiseshell; however, if the burning smells like plastic, then it is not.
Thanks so much for your advice, Agram.m! I think I won't test it because with my luck I could do some damage:)
Because of the rather rare form I'm sure it is indeed real tortoise shell.