Posted 4 years ago
Hantsuk
(1 item)
Hi everybody. I found this site while looking for info on the above tortoise brooch. It was given to me second hand about 50 years ago by a great aunt. About 3 years ago somebody posted a pic of one on here that looked very similar only it was bigger - mine is just over 2cm length. I don't think anyone could identify the mark. I'm sorry the pics aren't brilliant but they are the best I could do after a lot of effort :(
A very lovely little fellow. My eyes read it as 800 or 900 for the finess of the silver? Can not really see. Can you take a better photo of the marks? Maybe through a magnifying glass? The small mark is hard to see but reminds me about the "mystery mark" that Kyratango has written about before, for the parisian diamond company who made the most beautiful paste jewelry. But I can not really see from these photos. Look at her posts and compare with your marks.
I love how well made your little turtle is, even underneath!
Look at this post by our CW friend and jewelry collector Kyratango:
https://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/231254-antique-tortoise-925-silver-turquoise?in=collection-5608
Thanks Keramikos and Elisabethan for your helpful comments. I will try to take a better picture of the hallmark shortly. I just find it so difficult as my eyesight isn't that good anyway. Elisabethan that link you shared is the picture that prompted me to post on here. That brooch is very similar to mine although smaller, and the pin is set at a different angle. As you say Keramikos, the pin does seem to be a different metal to the brooch. Thanks for alerting your friend Kyratango to my post.
Hi Hantsuk, welcome on CW! :-)
Yes, your mark is what I call etruscan urn maker's mark! The other mark is an incomplete 900.
See my pages about my pieces of this maker, further identified by me as "the Parisian Diamond Company"
https://www.collectorsweekly.com/user/kyratango/mysterious-makers-mark-etruscan-urn
Really high end paste jewelry, look at their premises in London:
https://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/254184-any-infos-on-the-parisian-diamond-compan?in=collection-5608
Hantsuk it was a great idea to have a needle of another metal than silver, one that is more sturdy and that doesn't oxidice like silver.
Wow thanks Kyratango and other posters! That info on the PDC is fascinating. I only wish I knew when and where my great-aunt acquired the piece. So many questions I wish I had asked my relatives while they were still alive...