A Really Sweet Sweetheart Pin (For Dora)

[Erik in NJ]

For Dora: A Sweetheart Pin

I found this beautifully hand made and meticulously egraved sweetheart pin in England a couple weeks ago about 20 minutes before I unearthed that museum quality carnelian stone domed thimble. The attention to detail on this pin is fantastic and it bears a traditional maker's mark on the back made up of 4 cartouches. The name "DORA" (R & A have fallen off) was cut out in silver and soldered to the pin as well some of the ornamentation and the tiny finials (some have fallen off too unfortunately). The maker's initials are "WB", there is what looks to me like a leaf (?), a Gothic D for the date code, and I believe the last symbol is an anchor on its side.

 

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[SusanMN]

Gorgeous piece of old silver. A great find.

 

[Erik in NJ]

Gorgeous piece of old silver. A great find.

Thanks Susan! I was very pleased when I saw it as it rang up in the junk range. I didn't realize at the time since it was still dirty that the R and A had fallen off or I would have spent more time searching the dirt from the hole and the general viscinity for those pieces. I believe it must have been hit by a plow at some point as the damage that you see in the pics was not from me. I'm hoping someone here can help with the hallmarks.

 

[milk86]

the oak leaf hallmark is from the Netherlands from 1852-1906 Since you said it rang up as junk. get it tested as the oak leaf was a stamp for 14 k

the lower b is 1861

I am unable to track down the last one. which I believe is a bird

Please keep in mind I am just learning hallmarks I may be wrong. But I do know that if it rang up as junk which gold would ( typically a pulltab ) is why I believe it is made up of 14 K stuff.

Good luck

 

[Erik in NJ]

Hi Milk86!

Thanks for the info. It seems to tarnish which seems to indicate that it's silver, no? I will run it past my X-1 probe tonight and see where it falls...it was definitely not coming up as a proper silver item, but I thought that was because it is so thin. The final cartouche is damaged, but I thought it was an anchor, but an oak leaf and an anchor on the same piece wouldn't make much sense. As you observed, the lower case b is probably correct--I thought it was perhaps an upper case D as I don't believe the Brits (thought it was English) used lower case letters in their hallmarks. Thanks for your help!

the oak leaf hallmark is from the Netherlands from 1852-1906 Since you said it rang up as junk. get it tested as the oak leaf was a stamp for 14 k

the lower b is 1861

I am unable to track down the last one. which I believe is a bird

Please keep in mind I am just learning hallmarks I may be wrong. But I do know that if it rang up as junk which gold would ( typically a pulltab ) is why I believe it is made up of 14 K stuff.

Good luck

 

[lost hunter]

Cool

 

[oldsalty19]