Featured Very Heavy Bangle with Dragon Heads

Oooo, I think you might have done very well, very good sign

 

Thanks I hope so! Now that it's polished, I can admire the finer carving details.

 

Thanks, INH!

Haha, same! And then there are some time (like last week, when I turned down two very nice watch fobs for 17.5 euros each) when I immediately regret not buying an item. I'm trying to learn to be more forgiving toward myself and accept that mistakes and regrets are a part of the learning process.

 

OMG, I'm TERRIBLE in the field. I get overly-excited when something is slightly above the average of everything else I'm seeing.

Then I get home and it's all and and .

 

GOOD JOB! 140 grams of antique silver!!!

 

Thank you! Now, to invest in a testing kit (or take it to a jeweler)!

 

Someone asked me to sell this on Etsy, it has similarities, can anybody tell me more please? It's 130g, 7.5cm diameter. As little I knew, I thought is was a Scandinavian torque and that those were dragon heads. But now I know the seller's grandfather traveled in Asia and I can see they are lions. The open mouths are similar. Could anybody advise me its possible age and value?

 

Welcome Sue.
It is definitely Asian. Possibly Himalayan, like Barn Owl's. We don't do valuations here, but we can help you to find out more.
First and foremost, can you test it for silver content? Or let the owner have it tested? If it isn't silver, the value is considerably less, of course.

 

I would offer that the casting on this one is a lower quality than the earlier one. Loss of detail and quite a bit of pitting.

 

Absolutely, much less detail. Plus the cross-section is round, not hectagonal.

 

On the topic of testing, I'm getting my testing kit in next week, so I'll be able to finally answer the question of whether this bangle is silver or not.

 

I'm glad this thread was reawakened, otherwise I would have forgotten about it. I'll post the results here.

 

Thanks so much for the reply, I appreciate it. I'm sorry for pushing in, but I searched and searched and this is the only similar image I could find to the one I have. I'm afraid I don't know how to test for silver, and don't have access to a testing kit. Is there any cheap easy way to test the probability? It feels so heavy, the owner guessed it is a mixture of brass and iron! Again thank you for giving so generously of your knowledge.

 

Would that suggest a different origin/date? I'm interested to find out anything I can about how and when it might have been made, and how it might have been sold? And the open mouths, do they help to locate its origin somewhere? I've got quite fascinated with it now! Thank you again for all help and thoughts.

 

Testing kit came early. I haven't used a silver testing kit in a long time, so I'm a bit confused by the test results. I scratched each piece on the testing block, leaving a long, thick mark, and applied the red-tinted silver testing liquid to the streak.

I tested the Native American squash blossom style necklace I purchased a while back-- turned dark red, same color as a British sterling thimble I tested.
Chinese silver and coral bracelet - turned red, but not quite as dark as the NA necklace
Tested an Arabic bracelet (picture of bracelet and hallmark below), which turned lighter red.



Then...the lion bracelet. It turned a very dark red; at first I was worried that the streak had disappeared, but after thirty seconds, I could still see it past the dark red. Now, I'm not sure what it all means.

 

one guy unverified says...
Silver = bright blood red
Sterling silver .925 = dark red
0.800 silver = brown
0.500 silver = green

then this...

 

Very useful, Komo! but...
The image suggest testing directly on the piece by putting an acid drop on it
DON'T do that!!! Get a WHITE testing stone and leave a trace of metal on it by rubbing an edge of the piece you want to test. Color result will be obvious on the white background

 

Not Arabic, Barn, Tunisian, different continent and culture.
It was made for the Moorish population, which in the Maghreb means someone of mixed Berber and Arabic descent. A very specific culture.
People of early European descent (pre-1800) often wore Moorish jewellery as well.

The mark is not a Tunisian hallmark, but most likely the maker's mark. Tunisian silversmiths were often Jewish btw.
I suspect the bangle is 19th century. If you search some more, there could be a hallmark, which is a tiny thin sliver of a thing, or a discharge mark, which is a tiny dot, or both. The legal fineness in the 19th century was ca 900, but could be slightly over. I have found Tunisian marks on spiral hinges, so look everywhere.