Featured Need Help With Age & Origin of Art Deco/Nouveau?? Rhinestone Necklace

This is my first find of the year -- at Savers for about $7.50 after discount and sales tax. I could not find any markings on it. I'm quite sure it's not sterling--it was kind of dull but did shine up a little with a Sunshine cloth. The clasp looks like brass under the silver finish, but the other pieces look like some type of solid silver-tone metal. The spring ring clasp is the older style. The center/dangle section looks a little odd to me and I wonder if a previous owner reconfigured it, but the necklace is 15" long as is, and if I changed it to a straight chain there would be an extra connecting piece. The extra long prongs also seem kind of unusual to me. I'm wondering if it's Czech and from the 1920s-30s.

 

I forgot to mention that I searched online and did a Google image search and haven't yet found anything similar.

 

Sure looks like it could be Czech (or similar) 20s/30s.

As for the design... does it lay well on the neck as is? If someone reconfigured it from a a straight piece, you'd have an odd number (9) of the rhinestone features and and then the back closure clasp wouldn't be oriented in the middle. So unless one of the green rhinestone features is missing, maybe was always like this?? It is a bit unusual of a design, that's a tricky one. Maybe others will have thoughts.

Either way, nice deal at $7.50. ......I miss my SAVERS!

 

I haven't tried it on or put it on a neck display form, but I think it will lay well (I'll try it tomorrow). If the small rectangular pierced link above the bottom dangle were removed, the bottom rhinestone dangle would be in the center with 4 others on each side, so I think it would look fine. At some point someone did some work on this necklace because one of the back sections was attached backwards, so I had to open one of the jump rings and turn it around. Also, one of the jump rings on the center dangle was made from a thicker wire so it didn't hang quite right, but I was able to switch it with one of the smaller jump rings. I didn't mention this in my original post because it didn't seem like a big deal, but the more I look at the photos, the more I'm bothered by the way the necklace is configured and am thinking I should take out the center rectangular pierced link and just let the necklace hang as a continuous chain. Maybe it had a different/fancier center dangle originally and it got damaged, so someone reconfigured what was left. I'd welcome other thoughts and opinions.

 

I'm novice at a lot of this stuff....have you tested the stones? LOVE the color!!! The Savers near us NEVER puts out ANYTHING but CHEAP costume stuff, IF THAT!!!! Nice looking find!!!!

 

Nice vintage necklace, JMHO, it’s neither Deco nor Nouveau in style.

 

Thank you Aquitaine. I haven't tested the stones--I assumed they're glass. My Savers almost always has just the cheap costume stuff too, so it was quite unusual to find this necklace there.

 

Thank you Marie. Do you think it could still be from the 1920s-30s, or newer/older? Is there a style name that would apply to it?

 

Since it was questioned whether the 9th rhinestone piece/the dangle had been removed from the main necklace and turned into a dangle, if you return it there would be 9. Sort of argues there was some reconstruction on this piece if that dangle design isn't original. Or something missing? I agree, a quick fix would be just to remove the dangle and have 8.

It doesn't seem later than 1950s to my eye. I would have thought 1930s, but curious to hear thoughts, too.

 

I'd say earlys to me. It doesn't have the look of pieces made in Rhode Island, so I'd guess Czech too.

 

Reminds me of a Liberty & Co repro-nice,fairly sure a genuine piece would be marked.

 

The first thing I thought of when I woke up this morning was this necklace, so I decided I had to see what it looks like with just the connecting rectangular link removed, which leaves 9 rhinestone pieces and the clasp stays centered in the back. I know which version I like better and would be interested to hear what others think looks best.

 

I like it both ways. It would depend on the neckline. Too bad you can't fix it to be either way!

 

Thank you Lark. It would be nice if it could easily be converted, but I think that's impossible unless I replaced the jump rings with little spring ring clasps, but that wouldn't look right. The second option is more versatile and would fit a wider range of neck sizes.

 

Between the wars Czech pot metal with glass and absolutely typical. I doubt it's been altered, people had small necks then.

 

Thank you Obb.

 

I kind of doubt that this is pot metal, which tends to become a little bendable over time, and the pieces in this necklace aren't at all bendable. I think pot metal jewelry is usually cast, and this necklace looks stamped, but I could be wrong. To me the metal looks more like nickel/German silver...years ago I made a nickel silver ring in a jewelry making class, and the metal in this necklace looks the same.

 

I'd agree it's stamped, again typical. The ones I've got aren't pure nickel, but some kind of alloy, which does seem pot.

 

Thank you Obb. Nickel silver isn't pure nickel. According to Britannica.com, nickel silver is a range of alloys of copper, nickel, and zinc which are silvery in appearance but contain no silver. Its composition varies from 7 to 30 percent nickel, the alloy most widely used being 18 percent nickel silver (18 percent nickel, 62 percent copper, 20 percent zinc). In general the zinc content is lowered as the nickel is increased, the copper content varying between 53 and 63 percent.

This is what Wikipedia says about pot metal: There is no metallurgical standard for pot metal. Common metals in pot metal include zinc, lead, copper, tin, magnesium, aluminium, iron, and cadmium. The primary advantage of pot metal is that it is quick and easy to cast. Because of its low melting temperature, it requires no sophisticated foundry equipment or specialized molds.

 

Gets called "slush" metal too, in the toy world. It's whatever got too close to the melting pot. The necklace was stamped, so slush it isn't.