Featured Who/where-dunnit help - it wants to be 19th century French

To me anyway. The metalwork appears hand done. The trombone clasp points to a central European origin. The center stone comes up like CZ on my junky diamond tester. The little white stones aren't diamonds, but they ring in a lot higher than the center stone too. The bitties appear to be single cuts but transparent. Not marcasites for sure. Quartz or zircon maybe?

 

First guess: early to mid 20th century, stones made of glass/paste; poorly cast, almost no finishing, apparently with nigrification on the front (maybe also on the back) to make it look older

 

The tube hinge usually indicates age, except for some traditional Scandinavian pieces. The trombone clasp says it was made further south. The little stones aren't glass, just the center one. Maybe.

 

The little stones look like quartz to me.

 

Could be.

 

It is lovely, evelyb. I'd say 1880s-90s.
The trombone clasp is pretty generic Continental, and was even used in some North African and Middle Eastern countries. It was already used in the 1850s.
Stylewise it could be Austrian?

Maybe rock crystal? What was the hardness (Mohs scale)?

Will you give it a bit of a clean? (and show us?)

 

I wondered rock crystal. Certainly looks late 19th to me.

 

It is an interesting piece, the way the clear stones are mounted definitely looks older and feel early 20th century, like 1990-1910, or maybe even a tad older isn't out of the question.

Any idea of the metal content?

 

It feels like silver in hand, and my polishing cloth agrees. Just don't ask which fineness. There may be an 800 mark in there, or something. It's more a mess than a mark.

Austro-Hungarian makes sense; I don't see enough of it to think of that right off. No idea on the Mohs number; my tester doesn't do numbers. Just diamond and lights leading up to Diamond. I took some silver polish to it and the silver sparkled right up.

 

What is "rock crystal" please? The term sounds so general. I didn't know ANY crystal was considered hard!

 

Except for a diamond, of course!

 

Rock crystal is a clear, colourless quartz, that may or may not have irisation (rainbow effect).


Fabergé made this wonderful Easter Egg out of rock crystal:


https://www.vmfa.museum/exhibitions...corative-arts/1947-20-32-cs-95bk_xl-796x1024/

 

Oh my yes. I'll take two!

I took some silver polish to it. Found a piece of a mark, but just a piece.

 

This is what I call rock crystal.

Islamic Fatimid carving. Sublime.

 

Just stopped in for quick visit - might consider jargoons...

Image search for "rose cut jargoon silver brooch": https://www.google.com/search?q=rose+cut+jargoon+silver+brooch&tbm=isch&sxsrf=ALeKk00pCRjTB-hUYt4waqSCgxunCozfzA:1619561854048&source=hp&biw=1536&bih=754&ei=fo2IYOc5qJn9Bo3rhoAN&oq=rose+cut+jargoon+silver+brooch&gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQAzIECCMQJzoHCCMQ6gIQJzoFCAAQsQM6AggAOggIABCxAxCDAToGCAAQCBAeOgQIABAYUJghWOGoAWDhugFoAXAAeACAAYYBiAGcFJIBBDI2LjSYAQCgAQGqAQtnd3Mtd2l6LWltZ7ABCg&sclient=img&ved=0ahUKEwjn8P-Hup_wAhWoTN8KHY21AdAQ4dUDCAc&uact=5


~Cheryl

 

Ah, ok, thanks, AJ, I thought it was quartz.

 

Jargoon sure looks like a good description of the design! Not one I've run into before.

 

Sorry, still don't have much time, would guess the clear rose cut stones are jargoons, good quality zircons (as you already suggested) - personally, would probably call your piece 'Georgian revival', and would think the center stone paste. It's a pretty thing, certainly has some honest age to it, would think late 19th as well...

~Cheryl

 

The trombone clasp didn't come in until the 1890s, so it couldn't be Georgian. The stones might be quartz for all I'd know, but since it's a revival piece with a glass center stone it's probably not critical.

 

The trombone clasp was patented in Britain in 1850, and came into use in the rest of Europe shortly after.

I'm fine with Cheryl's option, Georgian Revival.
If you don't want to go with the 'Georgian' bit because is isn't from an English speaking part of the world, Historic Revival is another term you could use. I suspect it speaks with an Austrian German accent, so Historismus is another term.