Gold wax seal... please help

[DanW]

I found this wax seal at a rummage sale over 20 years ago. it's approximately an inch tall and maybe a half an inch wide. i', guessing it had a chain at one time and quite possibly some stones in it as well. I'd greatly appreciate any and all info anyone could give me on it... Thank You...

 

[RELICDUDE07]

Have you had it tested for gold?It looks kinda funny & not the right color for gold of that time frame..

 

[DanW]

Have you had it tested for gold?It looks kinda funny & not the right color for gold of that time frame..

i have not had it tested yet but in twenty years it hasn't tarnished at all... i took the picture under a flourescent and halogen light as well as it's sitting on a highly reflective surface, not to mention my camera didn't seem to want to work well for me...the original shots before i modified the pics captured it's qualities much better but seems to have lost alot in translation...

 

[CRUSADER]

Very difficult to tell from those photo's, the quality doesn't seem to be there for an 19th C example which it is in the style of. (but might be OK)

http://www.andrewhartleyfinearts.co.uk/listing.asp?id=61&archive=&sub=Jewellery
Look at lot 528, not a match but shows the general style of the period, its unlikely it had gems in yours, just openwork, & it was on a chain at one point.

 

[gemee]

Dan, I am just not getting a gold vibe off of this. It looks like goldplated costume. Get this acid-tested.

 

[Don in SJ]

The ones in the 1800s were gold plated, so I think it is of that time frame, possibly. I have a similar one without the actual seal, but you can tell it was gold plated.
I do not know if they have modern reproductions or not, if so than perhaps it is, but gold plating was done on original wax seals.

Don

 

[CRUSADER]

The ones in the 1800s were gold plated, so I think it is of that time frame, possibly. I have a similar one without the actual seal, but you can tell it was gold plated.
I do not know if they have modern reproductions or not, if so than perhaps it is, but gold plating was done on original wax seals.

Don

Yes, they are the common ones, they had solid silver & gold plated, solid silver no plating, & some solid gold. It doesn't quite look right for any of these as the base cutting looks more moulded in the photo. We need better pictures.

 

[DanW]

ok, with a jewelers loop, i can see obvious sign of having been plated... can't tell what the base metal is

 

[UnknownBounty]

Hey, well you found treasure there for sure, be it old or new. The likely hood of it being old, to me seems slim. As it looks very "new" style. It looks to me like gold plating, but its hard to tell with photo's at times. but it seems to "sharp".

I do not know if they have modern reproductions or not,

Sadly, these are hugely reproduced. Especially with the gem intaglio's and real gold. They are produced as fakes, even as old as roman times. They were big sellers for counterfeiters years ago. Still float around, sadly in many collections etc, as real. Even if as just a gold repro, was worth the jewellery value, and if sold as "real deal" could fetch larger sums, due to them being quite collectible. "newer repro" were many times plating on cheap alloys. which you can tell. these were not sold as fakes, just repro.

Either way, I love seals. they are really neat.

 

[CRUSADER]

Hey, well you found treasure there for sure, be it old or new. The likely hood of it being old, to me seems slim. As it looks very "new" style. It looks to me like gold plating, but its hard to tell with photo's at times. but it seems to "sharp".

I do not know if they have modern reproductions or not,

Sadly, these are hugely reproduced. Especially with the gem intaglio's and real gold. They are produced as fakes, even as old as roman times. They were big sellers for counterfeiters years ago. Still float around, sadly in many collections etc, as real. Even if as just a gold repro, was worth the jewellery value, and if sold as "real deal" could fetch larger sums, due to them being quite collectible. "newer repro" were many times plating on cheap alloys. which you can tell. these were not sold as fakes, just repro.

Either way, I love seals. they are really neat.

I agree, its just doesn't 'feel/look' right for 150 year old