Featured Help with mark on scarab pendant

Lark, I see, you have personal experience with scarabs Your father must have had great taste, IMO, these scarabs are very beautiful.
Mine is approx 3 cm and has quite sophisticated naturalistic three dimensional base. The holes are well visible because of its mounting, it is somehow glued on top of the metal surface. I will show on photos later today.

 

My father did have great taste in jewelry but his real love was ancient history . As a geologist it came naturally.

 

Scarab jewellery combines the two.

 

It is the rare Egyptian-made scarab that does not have either a drill hole right through the entire length, for stringing as a bead, or drill holes that go only part way in at each end, suitable for a swivel mount or attachment to something like a brooch. They are not a clue to age.

This piece is, in my experience, unusual if it is not in silver. Egypt used to use & mark metal with as little silver content as 600/1000. This does indeed seem like a better than average scarab, so it is curious that someone, somewhere, would mount it in base metal. I don't see any of the verdigris typical of older pieces with significant copper content. The blackening is characteristic of silver. Have you tried something like a tarnish removing wipe (sunshine cloth) on a spot on the back? If so, with what result?

 

The wear shows red metal, both on the lower part of the back plate and on some of the filigree.

Copper doesn't always oxidise, it depends on the conditions it was kept in. Most of my copper pieces have no verdigris at all.

 

If it is middle eastern it will probably be locust not grasshopper if researching.

 

It's a Dung beetle.

 

Thank you all for your help!

Bronwen, this is what I think, too. Something does not match. It is way too nice for the setting. And also it is mounted with closed back which is also unusual, all faience scarabs I saw online are with open back, and if there are hieroglyphs on the back (usually there are), they cannot be seen. It looks very black/tarnished on the filigree part and also on the mark on the back. I don't think I can access the curvy areas with cloth, and I am afraid to put it in hot water or bath. I did not do anything on it and also did not researched yet, overwhelmed with work. Even could not photo it again. I will try to cope with this tomorrow and will post.
Actually, I don't have sunshine cloth and have to see how to buy. Usually I don't deal with silver.

IMO, Lark means the grasshopper mark on the back, not the scarab.

Thanks for the tip! Very useful!

 

I don't see a grasshopper/locust, just a patch where someone made a vigorous effort at determining the nature of the metal. On my screen that area is gold/brass colored?

 

Bronwen, it can well be scratches on the surface. But it looks so realistic as a grasshopper (as Aqui mentioned) that I just thought there would be no harm to research it, too.
Yes, the area is brass colored, also some of the filigree is brass colored:
Some more photos

 

I kept seeing reddish metal, but now I see yellowish, so indeed brass.

Agree, I only see scratches too. Vandalism.