Featured So, I also bought an odd brooch.

I think this is early 20th and also probably Bohemian. Odd form, though. I can't decide if something is missing from the base and why is that back so very ornate? It almost looks like a fur/dress clip that's had a hinge and pin added, but there's no sign of that being done.

 

Looks like the whole piece is coated with excess solder on both sides,maybe a marriage or poor repair work.

 

That's mostly muck, I need to clean it.

 

Are the stones that deep cerise in person? Love the color.

 

I bet it had one of the pointy bits on the bottom originally. Pot metal likes to snap off sometimes, mostly just requiring a dirty look.

 

Yup, a very deep cerise. Just cleaned it with some window spray and a toothbrush, lovely colour.

I think it might well have had the pointy bit. It's odd how the back looks like a dress clip with no way to open it - and the hinge and clasp are original now I've degunked the thing.

 

I think it is as it was meant to be, or close to. I don't see any strong evidence for anything broken off. Certainly nothing that impairs wearability. A lovely, eye-catcher from the same era of dress-, fur- & shoe-clips.

 

That really is a stunning colour!. I love the brooches that have an ornate back. A lady was telling me yesterday that a lot of the Czech brooches are like that. No idea if that's correct or not.

 

I have seen it many times on brooches using an artificial cameo as a way of hiding the back without having plain, flat metal. Makes it look classier.

 

I dunno, Owned, am just gonna follow..

 

it is a stunner, amazing colour.

My thinking, made for the local market, more specifically a region where they wore regional dress. I can see this as a centrepiece on a bodice.

Austro-Hungarian! The traditions used for precious materials were copied on non-precious materials.
For a long time the aristocracy of the south German, Austrian and Bohemian lands prohibited the wearing of jewellery by the people. When the 'common folk' were finally allowed to wear jewellery, they copied the fashions of the aristocracy, albeit in cheaper materials.
In some Central European regions gemstones were still reserved for the aristrocracy even after the jewellery ban was lifted, which is why the Bohemian glass bead industry got such a boost. Around the time your brooch was made there were no more restrictions, but Bohemian jewellery had already become a brand name in the Western world.
You see those backs on a lot of old Bohemian costume jewellery, and some Czech as well.
This is the tradition it came from, the back of an Austro-Hungarian silver, citrin and pearl brooch:

 

I googled 'Miederbrosche' (bodice brooch) and found this girl, who seems to be scared of the photographer.
The shape of the brooch is different from yours, but you get my drift. Yours would look stunning on this bodice.

 

AHA! That makes sense, thank you. I've had very ornate backs on brooches before, but they've usually been one piece: stamped out,or whatever. Bit like a copy of your first example, the silver and citrine. This one has separate layers and components to it. Given it's not precious metal, there's a great deal of work to it.

And the shape may possibly have got carried over from being a bodice broch into dress clips, yes?

 

Yes, it was made of pre-stamped components bought from 'Gürtler', originally belt makers who worked with non-precious metals. All a jewellery manufacturer had to do was make up his own design, using the components.

Could have.

 

I'm copying this thread.

Early 20th, then, as the hinge/clasp seems to indicate?

 

I think the photographer had better be scared of her, before she turns him into a pig!

 

The hinge could be older, and they were already making this style late 19th. When you have it in hand, does the clasp seem a replacement?

 

Nope, clasp looks stone cold original to me. The hinge certainly does look late 19th. I've a fair few 1920s stamped or worked brass and stone Czech brooches, pretty well all have C clasps. But those were cheaper to make of course. So if this is a "better" thing, a better clasp makes sense. The glass is certainly good: I'd imagine Gablonz/Jablonec.

 

I agree.