Featured Beautiful carved flower ?jade? pin--Any info appreciated

I use a 20 or 30x loupe but I’m old and can’t see!

 

Thank you. I will get one of those!!

 

Afraid my immediate reaction was that it is glass, & this photo moved me even more in that direction:



I would not expect that grainy surface on a piece of jade, even if it is the back.

 

u have a point...that the original pics...did not pick up..........

things that make u go...hummmm....

 

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hantor.CozyMag

 

You can search sold listings on eBay and average out the sold prices for items like yours. Most things don’t have a definitive value. A piece could sell for $50 one week on eBay and $100 the next week. Just depends what bidders/buyers are looking at what time, and how deep their pockets are at that moment.

 

Thank you for suggesting ebay. That is exactly what my goal is. What is stopping me is that I do not know what the stone is. It was mentioned jadeite or glass. Is there a way I could find out more myself. I hope to buy a more powerful loupe and also use a magnifying app that was suggested by. Aznathalie but I am not sure what to look for.
Perhaps there is a device I could buy that would simply identify a property in it.

 

My advice:
1. Try to figure out that mark. If you can identify what country it’s from that will give you a good idea whether it’s jade or glass.
2. Test the metal since it says Silver and not Sterling.
3. Google identifying jade and fake jade. There’s tons of information out there.
Good luck!

 

Unpolished... but I see jadeite

 

Thank you for the detailed information. What is most interesting to me is that the mark could yield so much information. I will work on this and then post when I have some information.

 

Thank you for taking the time to evaluate the pictures and determine that it looks like Jadeite. I will search for information on jadeite.

 

Need a better photo of the back of the stone,looks like there are a lot of air bubbles.

 

I'm not certain it's glass, but I see things that argue that way.

In this pic I see something that could easily have been made in a mold.



It would be nice to have a pic taken from the other edge so we could see if the flower petals are undercut at all.

If the back were simply unpolished, I would expect it to look smooth but dull, perhaps with striations from grinding. As it looks to me in the photo, the back is shiny even though the surface is irregular. The back looks to me like it was once liquid.

There's something about the way the color is distributed that seems off to me, like the green & white were stirred together; strictly a gut feeling.

 

I need to delete this post

 

I will work on taking some better photos and post them. I don't have much experience with photography, so I am going to try to improve the quality of my photos. I am also going to work on identifying the mark.

Thank you for your very informative and interesting response. I appreciate your help.

I did read several articles on identifying jade and it seems quite difficult and there is no easy test. The sites recommend a specific gravity test (which I can't do because of the silver) and sending it to a lab to be sure. I also found out that real jade is quite valuable. I think if I can identify the mark it will really help.

 

On the mark on the pin, could it possibly say "China"?

A lot of these export pieces also had "China" stamped on them.

The thing about Jade is that there are many levels of value. There is low grade jade that is quite inexpensive, but for sure some is more valuable.

I agree that a starting point would be to see what is written on the pinback. A decent loupe should work, or if you had a local jewelry store, maybe you could talk someone into taking a look with a jeweler's loupe and letting you know if there is a word there -- or possibly even Chinese characters.

It's a pretty pin. Definitely worth more than $10.

 

I'd be thinking Chinese export silver jewelry too. The stone could be real jade, but there's jade and OMG Jawdrop jade. I'd think this is the former. The Chinese wouldn't sell the good stuff in a "Silver" setting made for export to Westerners who wouldn't recognize it.

 

You can't entirely delete a post; only a moderator can do that. We usually just put the word 'deleted' or even just a period to have something there.

 

I was squinting at it earlier & that's what I thought it might be.

 

For me, and in my experience, this kind of little pieces of jadeite were zillions in 19th century. (Not rare and no need to imitate.

Peking glass could be a probability, but I don't see the swirls or spots of color characteristic for glass.)

They were garments or hat ornaments, used on hairpins too.

The decor around the mount is auspicious Chinese coins!

From beginning of 20th century old pieces were torn apart and mounted in silver or brass for the western market.

The tiny size and average jadeite would place the price range around 50\70$. (Not worthy to seek a gemologist )

The mark on the pin may be "sterling" (I know it is confusing with the silver mark!).