Posted 9 years ago
martika
(149 items)
I found this brooch without any marks today in a charity shop. I see so many interesting vintage jewellery here on CW, I started to look out for them. I did a test - with hot water, salt, aluminium foil - and it confirmed it's a silver. It seems to me it's hand made and has an Arabic calligraphy on it - I googled it and a few similar jewellery came up. Still I'm not sure and if somebody is familiar with it I would appreciate every suggestion.
That is quite a nice find! What you did is not really a test for silver - it's a method of cleaning jewelry. The most reliable confirmation that it is silver is an acid test done at the local jewelry shop or pawn shop. The brooch might be only silver plated, as I see what looks like bits of copper showing through in the photos.
Thanks Efesgirl for your prompt reply. It's not a copper, those yellow patches. It's a flash from the camera. There isn't anything yellow if I look at the brooch.
Or my lamp causes the yellow patches on the photos.
Could it possibly be of Indian (India) origin???
Hi, Nevada. I haven't got a clue. I'm not familiar with Asian arts, symbols and when I tried to google it, the things what came up were only very vaguely similar.
What a great brooch Martika. Big too!
I can't help with ID but I would have definitely grabbed this too.
Thank you racer4four for you kind comment and thank you folks for loving and liking it! xxx
Beautiful brooch, Martika!
Can't help for the writing, but it does seem Arabic, and silver :-)
Thank you, Kyra! I will get it tested for a silver content at the jewellers and find somebody who is able to read Arabic letters. What I really would like to know how old is it can be. I think everything is possible, from the late 19th century to the 1990s.
Can't see the hinge... it would gave more clues :-)
Thank you Kyra for your effort. I uploaded another picture. You see, it didn't occur me to check out the hinge. Now I googled it and I think it's called a round hinge (?), it was introduced in 1920s and by 1930s they became a standard. So this narrows down the possibility of age.
This design closely resembles what the Dutch call "Zeeuwse Knopjes" or "Zeeland Buttons".
http://www.zeeuwse-producten.nl/broches/1610-zkb912-broche-zeeuwse-knop-grote-bol-midden.html
Thanks Efesgirl for your interesting info. There is a lot of similarity. But why is it decorated with an Arabic writing? It makes me feel confused.