Featured Silver pin/brooch --any help with signature?

Discussion in 'Jewelry' started by Lucille.b, Apr 10, 2020.

  1. Lucille.b

    Lucille.b Well-Known Member

    Trying to figure out where/when/who? Any ideas? Thanks.

    mask1.jpg mask2.jpg mask3.jpg mask3d.jpg mask3e.jpg
     
  2. Lucille.b

    Lucille.b Well-Known Member

    Here is another picture of the signature, just isn't the clearest of stamps. Also forgot to show, the clasp on the back, a tiny bit unique. It has a loop that extends to ease opening/closing of clasp. Thanks for taking a look.

    aaaamask4.jpg

    aaaamask3.jpg
     
  3. flipper

    flipper Striving to face adversity with tact and humor

  4. Lucille.b

    Lucille.b Well-Known Member

    Good leads. Thank you.
     
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  5. johnnycb09

    johnnycb09 Well-Known Member

    To me it looks like someone took bits and put them in a brutalist frame ? I thought Mexico as well .
     
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  6. evelyb30

    evelyb30 Well-Known Member

    Same here; the mark wants to say Mexico but it wasn't done well. The design is either Mexican or from even further south.
     
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  7. Lucille.b

    Lucille.b Well-Known Member

    Thanks. It's a mystery. The piece is all one unit, so I don't think two things put together. The stamp is a disaster. I'm fairly certain the bottom initials spell MLK, with a strong loop, that last letter is positively a "K", not an "X". That one letter is stamped pretty clearly. The top might say CH T19?? The border and unusual clasp with that hinged piece that operates the closure --never seen that before. Probably going to remain a mystery.

    Thanks for taking a look.
     
    Last edited: Apr 10, 2020
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  8. Hollyblue

    Hollyblue Well-Known Member

    The stamp appears to have been cast as part of the original piece,marking the wax before casting has about a 50-50 chance of being readable.
     
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  9. KSW

    KSW Well-Known Member

    I may be WAY off here as I know nothing about this type of jewellery but could MLK be Melinda Lucas Koinva?
    Book about Hopi Silversmiths has this list of makers marks.
    IMG_5610.PNG
     
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  10. Any Jewelry

    Any Jewelry Well-Known Member

    Love it, Lucille. It is Modernist Mexican with two Maya glyphs. Mystery maker.:(

    The dots and line on one of the glyphs are the number 9. It could be a glyph for a month, or for a dynastic ruler? Someone called Jaguar something the ninth?
    I doubt it has any significance for the brooch though, just a very nice reference to Mexico's Maya past.

    Some Maya glyphs:
    [​IMG]
     
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  11. Any Jewelry

    Any Jewelry Well-Known Member

    I think it is unlikely she made Maya-inspired jewellery.:sorry:
     
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  12. Lucille.b

    Lucille.b Well-Known Member

    Awesome information, thank you.

    Thanks to everyone who took a look.
     
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  13. KSW

    KSW Well-Known Member

    Sorry, that was my best shot :oops:
     
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  14. Bronwen

    Bronwen Well-Known Member

    I am more fascinated by this. Can't make out how it would work. It is also strange that the brooch pins on from left to right. If you're right handed, isn't this awkward?
     
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  15. Lucille.b

    Lucille.b Well-Known Member

    Correct. Left to right.

    The little loop threw me at first, was thinking, is this a bale for use as a pendant? But then quickly realized it was a small hinged extender that allows for opening the clasp more easily. It really is pretty clever how it works. It is easier to handle than one of those tiny pieces you need to use a finger nail to open and close.
     
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  16. Lucille.b

    Lucille.b Well-Known Member

    Was purchased pre-virus with these two items which are older stamped "Silver Mexico" screwback earrings. Not to say all the same era, but same former owner.

    bl6.jpg
    gr6.jpg
     
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  17. Bev aka thelmasstuff

    Bev aka thelmasstuff Colored pencil artist extraordinaire ;)

    I checked Mexican marks in 925-1000.com and don't see anything similar. I wonder if it could be a jeweler in another Central American country.
     
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  18. Bronwen

    Bronwen Well-Known Member

    So part of the clasp latch, larger for ease of use? When I see cameo brooches that pin left to right it's a good bet the cameo has come out & been put back upside down or that the whole pin mechanism has been replaced by someone unaware of the convention for orienting the pin so it works right to left, the majority of women being right handed. Yours seems to have been made this way from the start.

    Does this mark also have significance?

    upload_2020-4-11_11-33-6.png
     
  19. Lucille.b

    Lucille.b Well-Known Member

    Good eye, Bronwen! Yes, why is that there on the back of the pin unless something? Maybe is a signature of sorts??

    Here is the orientation:
    mask3b.jpg
     
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  20. Christy Roppel

    Christy Roppel Active Member

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