trade cross

[cornfed]

I have a trade cross, but i can not find any info on it. The cross is about 41/4 inches tall and 4 wide. The cross has markings and the makers mark is in the center i believe, it is a cross with a dot in the center.
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[Montana Jim]

How do you know it's a trade cross and not some kids shop project from 1972?

Can we see the back of it too? The mark in the center looks like a clover design, most likely decorative. A makers stamp would have been on the back most likely. Is it brass?

[Old Dog]

Most trade crosses I have seen are silver.
If this one is brass any original patina has been rubbed off,
That cleaning has potentially ruined a nice piece.

I'm agreeing with Jim, looks too new.

[Havilah_Springs]

Hey cornfed,

Was this a field find? Where did it originate, and what is with the beads? The one bead looks like a glass wire wound trade bead from the Mission Period. More pics would be nice too.

H_S

[cornfed]

The cross is silver. the back has no markings.i bought the piece from a church auction and was just looking for additional info. The seller said it was circa 1700's. It was in a display case for the last 40 years.
that is all the info i have on it.
I was told that the makers mark was the X with the dot in the center.

[Havilah_Springs]

Did the two beads come with it? They look Mission Period which were from the 1700's.

H_S

[cornfed]

[quote=Havilah_Springs ]
Did the two beads come with it? They look Mission Period which were from the 1700's.


Yes they Did.

[Havilah_Springs]

Not sure on the cross, all of the Trade crosses that I have seen were made of silver, but smaller and were molded not tooled. It is possible that your cross dates back that far, but I would have it looked at.

H_S

[taz42o]

Looks like a trade cross to me.

http://fineestateliquidation.com/trade-silver-crosses/

[Iron Patch]

The cross is silver. the back has no markings.i bought the piece from a church auction and was just looking for additional info. The seller said it was circa 1700's. It was in a display case for the last 40 years.
that is all the info i have on it.
I was told that the makers mark was the X with the dot in the center.

I think that seller probably paid a visit to the confession booth shortly after selling it to you.

[Montana Jim]

Cornfed... it looks hand-tooled, it looks old, and knowing it's silver helps.

Thanks for answering all the questions!

I agree, with no markings, that the best we can do is advise you to have it looked at by a professional, and hope like heck it's a trade item. Trade items were made from everything... silver, brass, tin... so who knows?

[Iron Patch]

These things are faked like crazy. Here's the real deal, and I actually know the collector, and am very sure if I was to ask him about the one above he'd say he wouldn't touch it. To me it just has the look of a fake, and not even a great one for that matter. I hope you can prove me wrong, but if not, unfortunately you will not be the first person on this forum who this has happened to. (I mean buying an awesome looking trade cross and finding out it was fake)


Would still like to see the other side and in light that makes it look silver.

[Montana Jim]

These things are faked like crazy. Here's the real deal, and I actually know the collector, and am very sure if I was to ask him about the one above he'd say he wouldn't touch it. To me it just has the look of a fake, and not even a great one for that matter. I hope you can prove me wrong, but if not, unfortunately you will not be the first person on this forum who this has happened to.

Sound advice.

[Brian C.]

This is what I found in a trade silver book.