Who made this brooch and when??

[Wiggy]

No it is definitely a brooch and the chain bit is just an extra safety attachment!   there is a proper pin across the back of the 'bee' but i turned it back to get the makers marks more clearly!     

[John915]

Good evening,

From what I can see in your photo's it's not a British piece. If it was it would have all the normal British silver assay marks, that's the row of little square marks stamped in to show which assay office, the carat value, a date letter and the makers mark which is usually initials. I say silver marks because that's what they are from the days when silver was the most important metal. The marks were then applied to gold as well. The most common carat wieghts are 9, 18 and 22 but you can also find 12, 14 and 15 on foreign pieces. It may be Indian, especially if it was bought in Australia.

John915

[Wiggy]

Thanks John915     -    or even Australian maybe??       

All hints and thoughts gratefully received!

Wiggy   

[annmck]

How funny!

Hi, Wiggy!
Haad a quick trawl through TROVE looking for "James, jeweller" Australia wide & found that they were evidently an extremely careless bunch. I started to jot down details of the no. of A /E/RA/R James, Jeweller, offering rewards to the  finders of various pieces of jewellery lost in the street, on trams etc.
The 6-7 I looked at, before deciding it was easier for others to do their own Trove search  ,  appeared between 1888-1915, in Melbourne, Sydney, Perth & Brisbane........what was going on??

Ann

[Wiggy]

And now with another different light I can see that the initials are B.A. !!     

Ann - that does sound very careless doesn't it!   I do hope mine wasn't one of the lost ones- but no, of course it wasn't - I still have it!!     I must go looking in Trove for what I can find!  Thanks for the tip!    I'd looked for jewelers in Melbourne - but hadn't thought of the newspapers.   

I have just had a reply from the London assay office library, and for you interest here is part of it relating to hallmarks.

 

The only way of telling definitively where your brooch is from is if it bears official hallmarks.  If it only has a name on the back, and the description of a carat weight, these don’t constitute hallmarks, but this kind of marking is not unusual with antique jewellery.  The first hallmarking law in the UK was made in 1300 and underwent several centuries of amendments.  By the late 19th/early 20th century the law surrounding the hallmarking of jewellery in the UK was especially complex, as some pieces which were deemed too small and delicate were exempt, while others (such as plain gold wedding bands) had to be hallmarked. The confusion meant that even up to the mid-20th century, some UK jewellery was not hallmarked.  Marks describing carat weight and the maker’s name were often applied by the maker.

According to  Tardy’s ‘Poincons d’or et de platine’ (12th edition,1988, p.44) there were virtually no official hallmarks in Australia at the time you think the brooch was made (before 1923), and Tardy adds that most precious metalwork of the time was supplied from England.

Wiggy

[John915]

Good evening Wiggy,

In my previous I said Indian because of the design style, especially the little bauble bits.
The rest I did from memory of whats in my little book of "hallmarks"and the history of them. It probably mentions about the delicate pieces not always requiring them. However the book is in storage at the moment due to decorating, ie. in the attic for the past 5 years. It must also be remembered that rolled gold and gold plate are not hallmarked in the normal way but have the makers name or "rolled gold" etc on them. A jeweller should be able to tell you if one of those applies in your case. I recently got rid of a whole load of gold for scrap, one piece was a ball point pen which had only "14K" on it. The pen was made of base metal with a VERY thin gold outer casing applied over, but not plating. The nice man gave me £40 for it on an assummed weight of 4gm.

John915

[Wiggy]

£40!!!!!!!!!!!!        Wow!   I know gold is very highly priced at the moment but . . . . .  that's very good!

but I won't be selling my brooch - worth much more to me than that!   

I should have mentioned that the piece of metal where the names is written seems to have been soldered (whatever the word is that applies to gold) on and i a flat surface onto the edge of one of the bars holding the bee/fly

Wiggy 

[LoneyBones]

Hi Wiggy, I think they call it annealing. It's basically soldering with spots then heating with a tiny hot flame to spread the solder between the two items. Oh Henry showed me how it's done, just with a candle    and a mouth blower which is like a straw with a very fine hole in the end. He said it can get VERY hot.
This method is used to add the hallmarks on fine pieces that would otherwise be damaged by the punches.
Anyway... I think your piece is art deco, about late 1800s to early 1900s. But one of the less flamboyant jewellers. About 1850-60 there was the "naturalist" period and some of the jewellery was fantastic, but almost completely covered in gemstones, later the naturalist themes were less elaborate.
I'd have a look at Scotland for a jeweller as well....
Leonie.

Now I'm off to ask for some help meself. 

[Wiggy]

annealing sounds much more betterer for a fine piece of jewellery than soldering doesn't it!   

 - thanks LB.