My best find today was a freebie!

[kali_is_my_copilot]

Towards the end of my usual flea market trip today I stopped by a booth I hadn't previously seen open. Hidden among a bunch of costume necklaces on a stand was a set of 800 silver rosary beads. After extricating them from that mess I held them up and asked the vendor, who was puttering around on the other side of the booth, what he wanted for it. Imagine my surprise when his initial "Oh, I don't know..." was followed by "... just take it." I asked if he was sure, and then double-checked that it was really his store (because I've seen and experienced that type of mix-up before), which he found hilarious. It would have been my best find today even if I had paid for it but free made it that much better! It is marked with 800 and a maker's mark on the crucifix and the centerpiece, but I can't begin to make heads or tails of the mark even after quite a bit of comparison to German and other European marks.

 

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[diggummup]

I can't read the makers number or the province letters, but I would say it's an Italian mark with that lozenge shape. Dates between the end of 1944 and the beginning of 1968 because of the lack of a "fascio" mark (postwar) and/or post 68 marks (polygon w/ a star). Hallmarks of Italian silver of 20th century

 

[jerseyben]

The same thing happened to me before.

I was rummaging around at an estate sale and all I found was a sterling rosary just like yours. I asked the guy running the sale "how much" and he told me I can have it for free.

Funny coincidence.

 

[kali_is_my_copilot]

There are only two possible explanations; either it's a crazy coincidence, or it's the same set of rosary beads and they are cursed with a very specific and benign curse, lol.

 

[diggummup]

Many people don't believe in selling religious items for some reason. Maybe they think it's a sin or something . I was given a rosary at a sale just before Christmas for free. It was a plastic one though. Also, I was at a sale last year full of many statues, icons, tapestries and a variety of other religious items. The lady said she wasn't selling any of her religious items. She was going to donate them to the church. She said "you aren't supposed to sell religious items". I don't know. Guess I'm just not that religious.

 

[jeff of pa]

Be careful !

Every time I've seen one of them, Some woman Is Clutching it against her chest,
And walking around a House she Thinks is Haunted

They must attract Spooks