A curious piece of vintage jewelry shows the silver and hides the gold.

[batcap]

I found the two items below at an estate sale. The stick pin is a Nazi Fallschirmjäger paratrooper pin. I haven't found another like it, and I can't sell it on ebay because of their swastika restriction (it's there- the gilt is messy so it's hard to see). Any ideas on good ways to move this?

To me, the interesting item is the jeweled crescent. The strange thing about this one is that the stones are embedded in sterling, but the entire back and pin hardware is 14K! I tested the back, scraped a bit and tested again - it's not plated or filled. It seems to be 90% silver and stones in the front, and 10% gold in the back, where it wouldn't be seen while worn. What do you make of that?
Oh yeah, the top arrow points to some sort of stamping. The bottom arrow shows how deep the gold goes - it's still gold at the bottom of the filing.

[SEANO]

If I recall, there are some sites you can sell Nazi items, try a internet search. I have a Nazi SS ring, I'll sell someday.

[creeper71]

I would listed it on Ebay as a WW II pin. Don't go into any Nazi details People who know what it is will bid on it.. set a reserve on it so if it doesn't sell for what you want you won't have too sell.. or maybe you can send it to www.HA.com for a free appraisal if they like it they will sell it for you...

[batcap]

Heritage Auctions is a cool place, but I don't think this pin meets their standard. I may discreetly try ebay.

But once again the big question is: "Why is the Crescent Moon silver on the front and gold on the back? I have to reiterate that the amount of gold on the back is not insignificant. If I was to send it to ARAGold I'd put it in the gold pile, not the silver pile. I'm considering using a fine hand drill to determine just how deep the gold goes. Could the gold have been hidden under the silver on purpose?

[Beans]

I always found it strang that one can sell coins with the swastika on them on ebay, but very little chance of any other item.

[creeper71]

Heritage Auctions is a cool place, but I don't think this pin meets their standard. I may discreetly try ebay.

But once again the big question is: "Why is the Crescent Moon silver on the front and gold on the back? I have to reiterate that the amount of gold on the back is not insignificant. If I was to send it to ARAGold I'd put it in the gold pile, not the silver pile. I'm considering using a fine hand drill to determine just how deep the gold goes. Could the gold have been hidden under the silver on purpose?

I think your wrong about Hertiage they do other things other then coins..they do war auctions too

[CladSpends2]

I would like to take a W.A.G. at the answer to your question...................since the two pieces came from the same estate sale/source, and one is a Nazi pin....................................what if the silver was over the gold to hide it's true value by someone, probably Jewish, who had been sent to a Nazi concentration camp? Probably I am completely wrong, but maybe it was thought that a silver pin wouldn't be confiscated.

T.

[SEANO]

Heritage Auctions is a cool place, but I don't think this pin meets their standard. I may discreetly try ebay.

But once again the big question is: "Why is the Crescent Moon silver on the front and gold on the back? I have to reiterate that the amount of gold on the back is not insignificant. If I was to send it to ARAGold I'd put it in the gold pile, not the silver pile. I'm considering using a fine hand drill to determine just how deep the gold goes. Could the gold have been hidden under the silver on purpose?

I think your wrong about Hertiage they do other things other then coins..they do war auctions too

Yes they do. I've sent a variety of items into them (pics w/history). They have generally gotten back to me, but there must be some very good value for them to take it on for auction. Worse case you hear nothing, worth a try.

[creeper71]

Heritage Auctions is a cool place, but I don't think this pin meets their standard. I may discreetly try ebay.

But once again the big question is: "Why is the Crescent Moon silver on the front and gold on the back? I have to reiterate that the amount of gold on the back is not insignificant. If I was to send it to ARAGold I'd put it in the gold pile, not the silver pile. I'm considering using a fine hand drill to determine just how deep the gold goes. Could the gold have been hidden under the silver on purpose?

I think your wrong about Hertiage they do other things other then coins..they do war auctions too

Yes they do. I've sent a variety of items into them (pics w/history). They have generally gotten back to me, but there must be some very good value for them to take it on for auction. Worse case you hear nothing, worth a try.

true to what you say, but a nazi pin made out of silver/gold with red garnets or rubys has to fit into there high standard

[rubytuesday]

Good find Batcap.
You didn't say in your post that you had tested the silver, only the gold.
Well, here's a thought, in many years of handling and repairing precious metal jewelry i would have found it very unusual for carat gold jewelry to be combined with silver, especially with the gold hidden underneath. I have a gut feeling that unless there is a sterling stamp on the rear of the piece then the "silver" metal holding the gemstones could quite possibly be white gold or more probably platinum.
I think this piece warrants furthur investigation. Good luck!

rubytuesday

[creeper71]

Good find Batcap.
You didn't say in your post that you had tested the silver, only the gold.
Well, here's a thought, in many years of handling and repairing precious metal jewelry i would have found it very unusual for carat gold jewelry to be combined with silver, especially with the gold hidden underneath. I have a gut feeling that unless there is a sterling stamp on the rear of the piece then the "silver" metal holding the gemstones could quite possibly be white gold or more probably platinum.
I think this piece warrants furthur investigation. Good luck!

rubytuesday

Ruby brings up a good point.. mostly everyone including myself see silver color stuff an assumes silver when it could be plat.

[batcap]

Good find Batcap.
You didn't say in your post that you had tested the silver, only the gold.
Well, here's a thought, in many years of handling and repairing precious metal jewelry i would have found it very unusual for carat gold jewelry to be combined with silver, especially with the gold hidden underneath. I have a gut feeling that unless there is a sterling stamp on the rear of the piece then the "silver" metal holding the gemstones could quite possibly be white gold or more probably platinum.
I think this piece warrants furthur investigation. Good luck!

rubytuesday

I had high hopes for that too, but I did test both the front and the back. I have an electronic gold tester and use acid to test silver. The acid turned red as it does when encountering silver. Also, the gold backing is a fairly uniform thickness. I don't know how jewelry is manufactured, but it seems like a flat silhouette of the crescent with the mounting hardware was fused to the silver and stones. Maybe this piece was manufactured in silver and gold. Maybe there were "extra" gold back pieces and one was attached to a silver decorative part. There was a time when gold was held at artificially low prices, not 60 times the value of silver as it is today. Maybe it was just no big deal at the time. I think I'll ebay this one with a starting price of my estimated value of the gold. The winner gets the gold + the silver+ the stones + the artwork of the brooch. I'll put it up right after my:
Old Shaeffer pen
Duofold box
3 stepper motors
2 pair vintage eyeglasses
Danish crystal salt and pepper shakers
WWII ammo belt
Hirschfeld litho and . . .
17 1950s and 60s girlie mags in near mint condition.
etc, etc, etc.

I gotta keep my wallet in my pocket and get some auctions fired up.

[bazinga]

Don't sell yourself short on ebay with that nice gold/silver piece.

If you think it has $50 in gold, take some great pics of it and list it for $125 and describe it well. You would be surprised. I've sold gold plated pieces with nothing exceptional about them for $30-50, and it's not uncommon.

Maybe post it on the some vintage jewelry message boards to see if anybody knows how to list or might recognize it and know the maker or why it was made like it was.

[MRBeyer]

I'm inclined to agree with Rubytuesday. Another possibility is this jewelry was a custom piece for wear on a fine linen shirt. The silver might mark it so gold was used to prevent the silver oxides wearing off and blackening the shirt. Seems like an expensive solution to a simple problem though.

[NOLA_Ken]

You can put the German pin on E-bay, no problem. All you have to do is list it as "WW2 German Paratrooper/ Fallshirmjaeger stick pin". Put a little piece of tape over the swastika, and you'll be fine. You also have to include a provision in your listing that says you will not sell or ship to countries where such items are forbidden by law.

[Keppy]

So what did you do with this sell it on Ebay or some were else.... Or just keep it ??

[cuzcosquirrel]

There was a period in the 1880's to 1920's where gold was sometimes finished or plated with silver on the front. Fabrege used to do this in their workshop and I have seen pictures of it. Chances are good that if it has an old set of european maker's marks on it, it is a gold pin from europe finished in silver.

[batcap]

$35 on ebay. That sale has been lost in the flood of "crescent moon pins" on that site. But don't cry for me, my fellow treasure hunters; I paid $10 for this pen last week . . .

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