Posted 10 years ago
dqj1968
(1 item)
This piece is about the size of quarter. It has two holes in the top and two in the bottom and is filled with cork. The hallmarks in the upper left hand corner are a crown, a lion and what looks like an O. On the right a W&H or W&N. It is hard to tell as they are very tiny. It was my grandmothers and all I remember her saying about it was she loved it and wanted to put it on a chain (the reason for picking at the cork). It was in a bag with a sterling silver pocket watch chain. I love it myself but would love to know something about it. Thanks!
Hi. This is a slide for a long guard chain. The cork is to help it hold it's place on the chain, so it doesn't slide around.
It's english, the marks are a hallmark, the crown is Sheffield, the lion is for sterling, the O is the year date & you can look it up without too many problems. The W & N are makers marks, you can probably find out that as well. Just google it.
I've seen this design before on buttons. Its Art Nouveau.
Hope that helps.
PS, a guard chain was used for ladies watches, they would sweep down & the pocket watch would sit in a little pocket. The slide would weight the chain so it hung nicely.
Or sometimes you see these chains called muff chains, to clip on a ladies muff.
Thanks for the info Jewels1900. I think grandma mentioned a watch fob at one time. The W&H looks like a flag and that leads me to believe it is a Walker & Hall piece from the early 1900's? I was not sure about the "O" (the mark for the date?) on the left where the lion is.
Yep, the little flag is Walker & Hall. One of the best English makers/retailers, although this piece may have been imported from France, or more likely, Germany. Then assayed in the UK. If it's a Gothic O, then it's 1906.
http://www.silvercollection.it/englishsilverhallmarksSHE.html
Hard to tell what kind of "O". It looks like the gothic letter when perusing the hallmark page on the web!
Sheffield 1906 by Walker & Hall ...
lovely piece , i would've thought quite a rare object :-)
Hi surfdub66,
I love it and I would love to wear it as a necklace. I have Googled like crazy to find something similar but have found nothing quite like it. I did find one that was square with a woman's picture but it was not as finely detailed. It really looks better in person, the pics don't do it justice!
I just posted a couple of slides from my collection.