Featured Sterling hair comb

This small hair comb measures about 4¾" long by 1½" wide (11.5mm by 4.3mm). Sterling top is attached (pinned) to comb which is made of what I think is tortoise (yes, I know this is horrible ... and cannot be sold on eBay ... but I didn't personally kill the turtle - so please don't hate). Under magnification the substance making the comb appears to have layers ... like an old piece of wood ... but is translucent and mottled.

Does the engraving (it is engraving, correct?) hint to what time period this may have been made?

Thanks for looking!

May have something above the sterling stamp ?
- looks like a weak incomplete sterling stamp under the complete stamp

teeth against light

close up of the texture of teeth

 

Hair oils will degrade the shell over time , as in where it has been opened up by the cuts., and this cute puppy looks to have been worn a lot.

The engraving looks rather unique , and the silver, hand hammered, and hand cut.
Why the sterling mark is double stamped....???

I can only venture pre 1900......but need more research to see other like minded examples ...

It did polish up well though !!! Very nice indeed !

 

It could be horn , Id guess 1860s myself . Just a guess though .

 

I don't think so..........

 

There isn't anything unique about the engraving,the techniques have been used for over 200 years and are still being used.The only things that look hammered are the pins through the tortoise shell.

 

Well I'm not used to seeing that meandering double line where it meets the shell, so that looks unique to me.

Maybe it's a casting...

 

There is no side photo to see the thickness of the metal,but it looks like it was filed to about half the thickness of the piece.

 

I have something similar in what I think is rhino horn and gold that I think is middle eastern and early 20th C. I think this type of hair ornament originates from around the Mediterranean but that's not a fact, just a guess.

 

Almost certainly American, was double-stamped because the first was unclear. Would have been hand-cut from sheet silver, looks like a matte finish, and with the overall engraved design and that 'Japanesque' motif at the base, would guess it's 1870s-80s. May have some catalog references at home...

~Cheryl

 

This woman is wearing one of the same ilk:

 

SIDEBAR......
don't ya just hate it when you're searching for an item.....& WAIT...I think I found one....and actually it's the same one posted here.....Grrrrrrr
google even snagged my pic of the shell......so i found that one too !!!!

 

I wanted to thank you all for looking at the thread and adding your thoughts and comments. Every little bit of information is appreciated because I try to learn a little something from each piece I buy (whether to keep for myself or to pass along to someone else) ... I sure wish I could recall all these little tidbits of info as easily as I once could.

For Holly, I took a side view pic. of the piece to illustrate that it is, as pointed out by Cheryl/DragonflyWink, hand cut from thin sheet silver - and is of uniform thickness throughout.

Also took some more close-ups to show that many of the designs appear stamped instead of engraved (or, I think, chased)... and to show how some of the edges look as if they are beveled. The design at the base is certainly odd ... with the wiggling line of dots wandering over a ground of very fine parallel lines. I know this isn't a fine, elegant piece (the design is almost crude or primitive) ... but it does appear that someone took a good amount of time and effort to create it ... and I like that.

Thanks again for all of your input!

 

At this time I would like to correct myself...and re-evaluate my position.

The more I look at the rear....and then the sloppy cuts, the missing silver chunks, the uneven outline.....the more I'm convinced that this is a cast piece of silver.

 

sooo not a casting

Ooops, I forgot to add ... but, thank you!

 

I have dealt with engraved , chased, and repousse hand made copper , silver and gold jewelry for over 26 years , and while I would like to take a loop to this item...thanks to Quirkygirls new magnified pics ...from what I see .....and what I don't see.....I believe this to be a casting......that may have some hand finishing....but that's all.

 

A question... have you ever tried to cast a silver piece that size and what looks like 18 guage thickness?

 

Maybe if you explain what it is that you see that causes you to come to this conclusion, I too can understand.

I just mic'd it and it's only approx. .025" thick (about 22 gauge sheet) ... just seems too thin to be a casting.

 

No. To answer Holly.

Now a days cast work seems to be thicker than worked silver.....
but this item seems to have some honest age , & I'm unsure of exactly where it's from.
I can just comment on what I see in the photo's.

 

See no indication at all that this piece is cast, nor do I see any signs of stamping or chasing, it's engraved...

~Cheryl