Mish Mosh of jewelry

[Digger54]

I have a collection of tie clasps, cuff links, tie pins, chains etc. It is the sum of my father and grandparents hoarding of anything that appeared as a precious metal. Even have some dental pieces that were saved.

I can only find one piece that has "Gold filled" on it. A lot of the pieces have the maker mark "Swank" on them.

Please educate me on what I have here and whether I should consider taking it to a Gold/Silver buyer for eval.

Also, not shown I also have pearls, Rubies and Sapphires (both cut and uncut), garnet jewelry, peridots and other various semi precious stones. Should I take these to a jeweler for valuation?

 

[Red-Coat]

That’s quite some haul!

You need to fully explore all the marks and sort the pieces for anything that's precious metal.

For the Swank pieces, if they are only marked ‘SWANK’, they will be from between 1927 to 1941, after which the company used a ‘SWK’ mark. The brand evolved from the Attleboro Manufacturing Company’s subsidiary called Baer & Wilde. They produced men’s jewellery such as tie clips, collar bars, and cufflinks, the vast majority of which were gold-tone or silver-tone (often chromed) base metal. If they’re gold-fill, they will be marked ‘GF’. They did produce some of their earlier higher-end pieces in solid sterling silver and solid gold, but those will be appropriately marked.

What you have will likely only have interest as wearable costume jewellery pieces, at most in the region of $10 up to about $15 for nice designs.

I also see a ‘MR. TARA’ mark on one of the tie clips. That one would have been made by Heller-Sperry, Inc. who created the brand for men’s jewellery in 1954, through to the 1970s. They only used gold-tone or silver-plated base metal.

For sure you need input from an expert (not just any old jeweller) to get appraisal on your precious and semi-precious stones. Good luck.

 

[Digger54]

That’s quite some haul!

You need to fully explore all the marks and sort the pieces for anything that's precious metal.

For the Swank pieces, if they are only marked ‘SWANK’, they will be from between 1927 to 1941, after which the company used a ‘SWK’ mark. The brand evolved from the Attleboro Manufacturing Company’s subsidiary called Baer & Wilde. They produced men’s jewellery such as tie clips, collar bars, and cufflinks, the vast majority of which were gold-tone or silver-tone (often chromed) base metal. If they’re gold-fill, they will be marked ‘GF’. They did produce some of their earlier higher-end pieces in solid sterling silver and solid gold, but those will be appropriately marked.

What you have will likely only have interest as wearable costume jewellery pieces, at most in the region of $10 up to about $15 for nice designs.

I also see a ‘MR. TARA’ mark on one of the tie clips. That one would have been made by Heller-Sperry, Inc. who created the brand for men’s jewellery in 1954, through to the 1970s. They only used gold-tone or silver-plated base metal.

For sure you need input from an expert (not just any old jeweller) to get appraisal on your precious and semi-precious stones. Good luck.

Thanks!