Posted 9 years ago
freiheit
(1224 items)
This pendant is a real mystery to me. I have spent more than an hour on line and couldn't find anything like it. There are no marks on the pendant but I am positive that it is silver, maybe not sterling, but for sure silver. The work is very delicate and detailed.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks for looking:)
Efesgirl, you are fast! Thanks for the love:)
I wonder if there was originally a cameo set in the pendant and it was replaced by the Opaline glass, for whatever reason. Eh, probably not! It just strikes me as a cameo pendant design.
It is possible but it would be hard to find the correct size for a replacement, wouldn't it?
Not if a stone was cut to fit. It looks like the silver banding around the stone is a separate piece. Really hard to say. Maybe krya will be along and shed some light on this for you.
Let's hope so. I really would love to find out more:)
Many thanks for the love, NevadaBlades, vetraio50, aura, mikelv85, and martika:)
Even the back is beautiful!
Freiheit how do you know it is glass? I'm trying to learn and from the photos I would guess moonstone....what should I look for?
There seem to be tiny round bubble in the glass. I don't think they would be there if it was a stone. But I am learning, too, racer4four:)
PhilDMorris and Trey, thanks a lot for the love:)
The filigree work is very fine!
Yes, opalite, opalescent glass, the milky color and bubbles are the clues :-) I think it is original to the piece.
Couldn't find a similar too, but the wire work stone setting is usually encountered on vintage chinese filigree pieces.
Occidental is usually bezel setting, this is only a guess!
Thanks a lot for your help, kyratango. I will follow your suggestions and check out the possibility of it being of Chinese origin:)
All filigree works have particularities, look too for Spanish or Philippines :-)
I will have a look in that direction too. Thanks for your comment, kyratango:)
Your pendant was most likely made in Russia, this kind of filigree is a traditional craft and very popular, they still make a lot of it. It's rare to find it in silver - German silver is the preferred medium, sometimes it's silverplate. Here's a link to a webpage with several nice examples (the ring with a red stone at the bottom has filigree components and does not qualify to be called a "true filigree item"; it is shown for comparison.
http://juvelirum.ru/tehniki-obrabotki-yuvelirnyh-izdelij/skan-filigran-redkaya-tehnika-tonchajshih-uzorov/
Hope you are not disappointed. A real filigree item is very labor intensive and therefore pricey, even though it's not silver. A pendant like yours would retail for around $50-$80 depending on the venue.
Davyd286, thanks so much for your comment and the link. My Russian is a bit rusty; I took it at school for many years but I have forgotten most of it. It is interesting to see how the components are used to make beautiful pieces of jewelry. Now I look at filigree with a different eye.
I am not disappointed at all because I collect pieces for enjoyment, rather than for monetary gain or business of any kind. If I like a piece or I find it interesting, I will buy it. I usually hunt for bargains because I add a lot of items to my little collection and paying retail prices would limit my ability to expand my items. I do pay retail, though, if I really like something.
I paid about $5 for the pendant, so considering how much work went into this pendant, I think I did rather well.
Once again, thank you for you help and kind words, davyd286:)
Gudrun