Posted 8 years ago
Celiene
(71 items)
HELP! You guys are SO good at identifying stuff! This is one of my gems... (Let me know if you need that 4th picture!)
This is a beautiful 1 &5/8 x 5/8 (Appox) Sterling Silver pendant. Mirror cut natural pearl, Marcasite and Pink Sapphire (??) pendant. UNMARKED, but I'm familiar enough with silver to know it's silver, plus it polishes like silver, smells like silver. (The chain is recent.)
I literally dug this out of my yard at the house I was renting in 1985 that was built in 1939. I was gardening at my place in Burlingame CA, and dug up this dried lump of adobe mud. Saw something inside it, took it up to the kitchen to wash and VOILA! This is what I found.
It had a coating of darker pink 'wash' (or something) on the back of the faceted cut stone, that I eventually scraped off completely once it started coming off. I thought a clear stone would emerge but no, a lighter natural pink stone appeared. (I always thought the darker pink was maybe a pink clear (not matte) nail polish?) It is brilliant cut on the top (flat top,faceted sides), and cut like a star on the back, the point towards your neck. When looking through the front of the stone, you can see a shining star! Pink goes from light to dark depending on light and angle.
The pearl is real - it is ONE baroque NATURAL white pearl perfectly cut in half and mirror mounted in custom tulip-like setting (you can see the back of the pearl in the setting, and is solid, like a tooth, not a rim of nacre and irritant center). The faceted marcacites look to be glued as well as prong set with funny little ball & comma prongs. The prongs holding the pink stone are flowers! (I saw that pretty Bernard Instone piece someone else posted and thought HEY!) The pink stone is TOP MOUNTED, not mounted from the back - it sits on the crown of the setting, and is held by the flower petal prongs.
The bale for the piece is literally folded over from the back, and can accept a rather large chain.
Is it Deco, Arts & Crafts or Nouveau? American or not? Any and all thoughts welcome!
wish I could find something like this while Gardening :)
but all I get is worms, frogs etc LOL
I even have a metal detector and never find jewelry...get a lot of nails and bottle caps etc
It's beautiful Celiene!
Thank you Melanie! It was hard to try and catch that center star in a photo! I hope someone has an idea of origin or maker. What style best describes it? Arts & Crafts, Deco or Nouveau?
Love the Pink Sapphires, very nice looking setting
I saw the prongs in those beautiful earrings you posted, Kerry. Do you think it's the same maker? Google image search him, did not see anything similar to this. And your flower prongs are a bit different. You posting is what prompted me to post! I am assuming it is a pink sapphire. It is NOT glass.
Celiene, you must be thinking other Kerry, she has some great stuff, I have a Nouveau style Pink Sapphire ring with large stone, mine is European made. But still love this :-)
Oh - it was Peasejean55 who posted the earrings, you just 'loved' them!
Did I hear my name, lol.
Celiene, after a couple days of looking at your profile photo, are you into clowns? If so have something I'd post just for your enjoyment
Celiene, That is really a BEAUTY!!!!
It is beautiful Celiene! What a find ! !!
I think you can place it in Deco era, with its geometric pattern :-)
Also, the star cutting on the back may give this changing color star effect from reflects, I doubt it is a natural sapphire but a jeweler could test it.
I add that sometimes it is the pieces who find us ;-)
If you need me, I'll be outside with my trowel....
Beautiful!
It's very unusual. I'd vote for Austria as the place of origin.
Posted a little something I think you might enjoy and put a smile in your heart.....
http://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/178360-for-celiene----animated-circus-clown
What a treasure...literally !
Thank you all for the love and your insights - and thanks to you, Kerry for the clown clock posting!
very very beautiful!!!
Peasejean55 - do you think it may be a Bernard Instone piece or a compatriot? Anyone know who else used flower-shaped prongs to set stones? Was it a common thing?
Hi Celiene, no I don't think this pendant is Bernard Instone, but I could be wrong.
Amazing that it's got all its "bits" after being underground. Really, really lovely.
Really beautiful,you must have been so exited when you realized what you found!:)
Thank you all! BettyBoo - yes I was! I can't believe it was 30 years ago!
This is the setting I was talking about in relation to the beautiful blue Topaz pieces just posted! The Flower PRONGS are exactly the same! The stone is a different color, but seems to be the same cut and shape.
Wow that is an incredible piece!!!! And it is exactly like my settings. I'll do my best to see if anyone in the family knows the exact origins of my pieces!!! Surely these are from the same Era. Super excited to do some digging.
Yes - you can tell these were made by the SAME maker. Same cut of stone, same flower prongs and generally the same era & design of setting. I found mine in Burlingame/San Mateo CA.
That blue stone is incredible!