Featured Gold Brooch - Date and Place?

What have I thrifted? I got it for the hefty sum of $3 at a yard sale. It's marked 585 and GJ. The besel is gold and the link frame base metal. Is it glass? Painted with what? The picture taken with a flash shows the missing parts which might indicate it's indeed glass. I would love to have a period and a place of origin. I was unable to trace the maker.

 

The tube hinges were used mostly prior to 1910, but date maybe into the 1700s. THe trombone clasp has been in use in Europe since the 1850s. Chain frame... Victorian somewhere. (1870s??) Since this was designed to be worn horizontally, The pendant bail is a dead giveaway, I'd bet the dragon was added later even if it didn't look later.

 

First off, truly amazing find. Can't go wrong with 14K for $3.

I think the center part is enamel.

Are you sure the link frame is base metal? I would think those links would be gold as well. I mean I suppose they could mix metals, or perhaps as Ruth suggested something has been altered.

Of course first thought with the GJ signature is Georg Jensen, but that is just a first thought. At least something to rule out.

Yeah, the bale means to wear it horizontally. It seems a bit funny but maybe that sea horse fantasy figure could be viewed horizontally?

Interesting piece and a super find.

 

The truth is that the links being base metal is a guess. They show some darkening at soldering spots, which I thought may indicate another metal, and also it simply seemed like a lot of gold to me.
Re Jensen - I found the name, of course, but the style seemed wrong. I may have missed comparable pieces.
I simply love this fantasy horse/dragon even if it's a later addition, but I don't think it can be viewed horizontally.
Indeed a super find! From a terrific estate where I got a horde of treasures for pennies.

 

I'd have run off with it too. One cousin loves dragons and old stuff, and the pin has both attributes.

 

I don't really see a bail, more like an attachment point for a guard chain. I believe the correct orientation is the one Ruth shows. Gravity would work against the clasp staying closed, but I have quite a nice deco-era brooch that also has a vertical pin with the clasp at the bottom, which does have that problem, but that would never have been configured any other way.

Hard to know about the unmarked metal from photos alone. I have seen many brooches with frames using this tubular construction for loops & they were all brass/pinchbeck. Brass smells like brass, especially if you warm it up a bit by rubbing it briskly against some fabric. (Use something you don't care about staining.)

I have a suspicion that the central element has been reworked into this brooch from an earlier piece; those breaks in the back edge of the bezel are not from wear. Agree that painting looks like enamel. Georg Jensen's workshop seems improbable to me, although the critter does have somewhat of a "here be dragons" look.

 

The catch has a locking mechanism so it stays closed even in an upright position. Regarding the frame being a later addition, this means the pin is later as well, as it is soldered to the frame rather than the besel.

 

Great design and nicely made. I think it is all original, guesstimate 1890s.

Ditto.

Ditto. It looks gold. And in most countries a gold mark is for the entire piece, unless marked otherwise. The only parts that can be base metal without a mark are brooch pins, for strength.

Unfortunately not a Georg Jensen mark and Danish 585 gold is marked 14K and the Danish three tower mark.

 

That is the solder, not the links themselves.

Ditto, on both.

Agree.

So do I. It makes much more sense.

 

It looks to be fully made of gold for me too. And, if it is not a reflection, there might be another hallmark at the bail (marked on photo). The painting looks like a dragon, or maybe some kind of the mythical sea creature. Very nice find, especially for 3€

 

There's something there. It's not any mark I can recognize though. I don't own a macro lense so I wing it with the loupe - hope you can see something.

 

When I become the Supreme Overlord........I'm going to make a law that states , if you mark a metal for purity..... it has to be legible for a minimum of 500 years !!!!!!

 

It's illegible from here too. The mark was too big for the area they stamped.

 

nice photo though...

 

I am no expert at all but just to put my vote for "entirely golden brooch". The rings look gold to me, with some patina typical for 14 K which has relatively high content of base metal and gets a bit mirky with time. I have a pair of old 585 earrings (actually 583, the 14 K gold standard here between 1944-1989) that look just the same.

 

It’s definitely some kind of a hallmark, I just can’t read. If you know origin of the brooch you might search through the hallmark catalogs, but just if you are very interested in this topic. Anyway, it’s a wonderful find