Featured Can you help

Hi,

This brooch I believe is brass (see first picture) with a blue glass? stones. I cannot find a makers mark.

Can anyone advise who may have made this?
Why such an elaborate back when it can't be seen when wearing?
How old it may be?
Is there anything missing from the brooch?
Where I may go to obtain further information?

Thank you in advance
Rexeo

 

The glass is Czech. Age, pending actual experts ... 20s?

 

Why such an elaborate back when it can't be seen when wearing?

ahhhh, but it can be seen when buying , selling , and it gives clues to it's manufacture ....... and quality !!

no one sees your engine as you roar by.... but they do upon opening the bonnet !

 

It may have been the back of this pin, but visible from the front for other designs. It was cheaper to make them in quantity and then use however they were needed.

 

I’d think early twentieth and Bohemia/czech.

brooches of the period often had ornate and rather lovely reverses, there was a real pride in craft.

 

Yes, brooches with decorative reverses actually weren’t that unusual. For example, the backs of these brooches here:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1556726650/antique-vintage-czech-bohemian-filigree?click_key=09b4872095b7bb1263ae91e2cbc1c07e9deba0b4:1556726650&click_sum=54c8f0e8&ref=user_profile&cns=1&sts=1


https://www.etsy.com/listing/1681615848/antique-art-deco-rhinestone-enamel?click_key=3db37bb543755f2eea01be05647d4ceb2c9e25eb:1681615848&click_sum=b58d6014&ref=user_profile&sts=1


https://www.etsy.com/listing/1844024860/czech-filigree-rhinestone-art-nouveau?click_key=888b25e6f75eb99aacaecc5af149c0da1b1f2fa0:1844024860&click_sum=681e38ac&ref=user_profile

It probably also helps to protect the back of the glass gem. I have seen brooches where the back of the gem extends so far back that it presses against the pin and bends it. Like this one:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1121933681/large-antique-arts-and-crafts-czech?click_key=5c1229253b4c503397c5eea05051648ad365dca7:1121933681&click_sum=3f767fb9&ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=early+20th+century+brooch+czech&ref=sr_gallery-3-8&organic_search_click=1&content_source=5c1229253b4c503397c5eea05051648ad365dca7%3A1121933681

Pretty, but it’s probably not comfortable to wear.

Having said all this, I would still like to add that, in the case of Rexeo’s brooch, we might be looking at a case of “Frankenstein-ing”. Basically, I don’t think the front and the back of this brooch originally came together. The back of the brooch looks like it’s in much nicer condition than the front. Some of the paint seems to be coming off, but it still looks brighter and less worn than the front.

On top of that, style wise, the back and front don’t match. I just can’t get over how the front seems to be a sort of Etruscan(?) style and the back is just….shamrocks. There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason for making it that way. My guess is the back of the brooch was damaged and whoever repaired it just soldered together whatever spare parts they had on hand that were similar in size.

Without any makers marks, I’m sorry to say, there’s no way to know for sure who made it. They made tons brooches like this way back when. There are old jewelry catalogs that have advertisements for lots of brooches in similar styles. It could have been made by anyone.

 

It is simply made like Austro-Hungarian Historic Revival style jewellery, which usually had decorated backs inspired by Baroque jewellery. Some of those backs are very ott, others are more simple.

The decorated backs and some other features of the AH style continued to be made in both Bohemia/Czechia and Hungary, both were part of the AH empire. Czech jewellery is better known for it because so many pieces were made and exported.

As a legacy of the AH style, I see nothing wrong with this brooch.

 

It's a lovely piece, albeit a mystery. I wonder if the factory just had a variety of premade stampings lying around and they chose to use the backing that had the right size, regardless of design?