Featured Garnet bracelet, late 1800s?, metal?

Discussion in 'Antique Discussion' started by patd8643, Jan 14, 2019.

  1. patd8643

    patd8643 Well-Known Member

    Could this be another piece that my great grandfather escaped from Hungary with? All the stones are there and it is rather small, about 6 1/2" or slightly less around the inside.
    I've seen a similar one where they called the metal Bohemian 'gold' but it looks a lot like brass. Did it have a gold wash at one time?
    The last picture was taken with a flash. Frt 1.jpg Bck 1.jpg Hinge 1.jpg Hinge Sid 1.jpg Wide Open 1.jpg Bck F 1.jpg Thanks for your help. Patd
     
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  2. scoutshouse

    scoutshouse Well-Known Member

    Beautiful,@patd8643
    These old garnet pieces are often vermiel or gold wash over sterling and very desirable (I was shocked to discover!)
    Look for 3 row bohemian garnet bangle
    Love it
    Ebay vvvvv

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Jan 14, 2019
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  3. evelyb30

    evelyb30 Well-Known Member

    What she said. Bohemian garnet pieces sell handily, not that you'd sell it. I hope someone wears it at least occasionally; that's no nice to hide in a drawer.
     
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  4. cxgirl

    cxgirl Well-Known Member

    What a beautiful bracelet Pat:)
     
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  5. patd8643

    patd8643 Well-Known Member

    Thank you Scout. I'm surprised at the price. Will probably save it for our granddaughter. She was named after her great grandmother who was the daughter of my great grandfather - if that makes sense.:cat:
    Patd
     
  6. scoutshouse

    scoutshouse Well-Known Member

    When we came across the necklace below at an estate, my boss just said "Brass." and walked away. Looking them up I found it was in fact old and collectible.

    SADLY - In the 60s, I wore a wire strung necklace of raw garnets my Grandaddy Lee had mined circa 1890. I have no idea what happened to them. :( That's my "one that got away" story for today, @James Conrad !

    Maybe they'll turn up in my sister's safe someday... Hmmm.

    HOR_012 Antique Garnet Earring Necklace Brass-1.jpg
     
  7. Hollyblue

    Hollyblue Well-Known Member

  8. scoutshouse

    scoutshouse Well-Known Member

    I'm not sure - many places off and on from about 1890 through 1910? I have his Sticking Tommys and journals from that period. Below top: 3rd from right, and Below bottom: 4th from right.

    He was kind of a Forest Gump of the West. He's on youtube(!), filmed by Edison in 1894 while a Roughrider in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show.

    Screenshot 2019-01-14 21.11.09.png
    Journal entry below from Laramie to Cananea mines. (A "blind": when rounding a corner the conductor can't see the entire train)
    Screenshot 2019-01-14 21.11.38.png
     
  9. komokwa

    komokwa The Truth is out there...!

    :):):):):):):)....:jawdrop:
     
  10. scoutshouse

    scoutshouse Well-Known Member

    Complete with poem:

    At the close of the show the next face
    A representative of Edison made me a case
    Said Martin, I wonder if I could hire
    To show your stuff before the Black Maria
    A bargain was made a date was set
    At the West Orange Depot there you were met
    Said Wissard (sic) Edison: I sent for you to ride and rope
    Before the Edison (movie) Kinetiscope”
     
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  11. Any Jewelry

    Any Jewelry Well-Known Member

    Wow patd, gorgeous bangle, and wow scouts, what a story!:jawdrop:
    'Bohemian gold' or 'garnet gold' is 6k gold, a fineness of .250. It was used for Bohemian made garnet jewellery during the second half of the 19th century.
    Even when it was used it was considered below the legal content just about everywhere, and all sorts of fancy names were invented, like joujou gold, and Viertelgold, a German word meaning quarter gold.

    Most antique Bohemian made garnet jewellery is either 6k garnet gold, or tombak/tombac, a brass-like alloy. Some is gilded tombak, some is 8k gold, which was legal in some countries, and some is a slightly higher gold fineness.
    Whatever metal it is set in, Bohemian garnet jewellery is very desirable. And it is always well-made, regardless of the metal used.

    Bohemian garnets were also exported for jewellery manufacture elsewhere.
    Britain, Germany and the Netherlands were major Bohemian garnet jewellery manufacturers. That is where most higher fineness gold and vermeil (quality gold plated silver) garnet jewellery was made.
    Some was also set in silver, especially in the Netherlands where silver mounted garnets were worn during certain stages of mourning. Mourning jewellery here in NL went from all black (jet, glass), to black and silver, to garnet and silver, to garnet and gold, and on to 'out-of-mourning' jewellery in brighter colours.

    Your bracelet is very much in the Bohemian style, so I wouldn't be surprised if it was brought over by your great-grandfather from Hungary. Hungary and Bohemia were both part of the Austro-Hungarian empire.
    Looking at the photos, not having it in hand, I think your bracelet could be tombak. But that is hard to say from a photograph, since 6k is such a low caratage. Testing will be difficult, most store bought testing sets don't test below 10k, and jewellers often can't test for 6k either.
    If you have never seen any verdigris on it, it could be 6k Bohemian or garnet gold. Which can also develop verdigris:rolleyes:, but not as easily as tombak.
    Sorry I can't be more definite.
     
    Last edited: Jan 15, 2019
  12. scoutshouse

    scoutshouse Well-Known Member

    That is fascinating,@Any Jewelry

    Yes, I'd agree with that!

    At the time, I thought the necklace was from the Netherlands. The owner traveled there a lot and owned some really stunning jewelry, some garnet and other very modern vintage.

    Do you think it could have been from there?
     
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  13. Any Jewelry

    Any Jewelry Well-Known Member

    It doesn't look Dutch, Dutch jewellery of that period is usually rather showy.;)
    It looks Bohemian, and if it is tombak (brass-like) it is.

    This is Dutch regional jewellery, made with Bohemian garnets and 18k gold:
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
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  14. Ownedbybear

    Ownedbybear Well-Known Member

    I'd add in that sometimes, Bohemian garnet pieces include some glass stones. Jablonec wasn't just a mining centre, it was a glass making place.
     
  15. Any Jewelry

    Any Jewelry Well-Known Member

    True. I collect Austro-Hungarian jewellery (what don't I collect:rolleyes:), which also has a lot of garnets, for obvious reasons. But with Austro-Hungarian, garnets and garnet glass can be used in one and the same piece, just like real turquoise and turquoise glass, pearls and mop. It seems they mainly went for the colour. Sometimes lost gemstones were simply replaced with glass.
    So when a new piece comes in I test every stone, if it isn't clearly glass.

    Here is one where the garnets are all true garnets, but the central 'pearl' is mop, some of the smaller pearls are real, some not. All stones are original, they just made a mess of things.;)
    upload_2019-1-15_11-43-56.jpeg
     
    Last edited: Jan 15, 2019
  16. patd8643

    patd8643 Well-Known Member

    Scout, that is really interesting. He must have had a very interesting life. How I would have liked to know him. BTW, I still have a betty lamp with the sticking tommy that belonged to another grandfather - before he had the farmhouse wired for electricity. So much history is loss to future generations.
    Patd
     
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  17. Ownedbybear

    Ownedbybear Well-Known Member

    Pat, get a soft old toothbrush with a bit of white vinegar or Windex on those stones, and invest in a Sunshine cloth for the metal. It will look even more lovely.
     
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  18. patd8643

    patd8643 Well-Known Member

    AJ, I think you hit the nail on the head here. I'll look at it more closely. There is not really verdigris...
    As I've said, according to the story, each family member there gave him something of value to sell here so he could start a business. He only sold what was necessary and kept the rest. Maybe this was a keeper.

    And AJ, WOW on the Dutch garnet pieces.
    Patd
     
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  19. silverthwait

    silverthwait Well-Known Member

    AJ: your idea of a "mess of things" and mine do not coincide!
     
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  20. scoutshouse

    scoutshouse Well-Known Member

    Are those yours?? And circa?
     
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