Stones in old brooch

neodetectorist · Mar 24, 2019

I was cleaning up this old brooch I posted with another find and found something interesting.
One of the 7 stones (or glass) fell out and I was intrigued by how detailed the stone was.
Here is the brooch

Here are some closeups of the stone

8 sided and flat on top and pointed on the bottom.
Is this just glass? It has such detail to it.
Anyone familiar with this design? Is this depression era jewelry?
Could these be stones?
Thanks

DigginNorthernVa · Mar 24, 2019

I can't answer your questions, but I like the brooch!

Kray Gelder · Mar 24, 2019

Foil backed, but could still be garnet. I read where foil backed garnets were commonly used in Victorian times.

CRUSADER · Mar 25, 2019

Looks paste/glass to me

saywhy · Mar 25, 2019

An easy way to tell if it is a ruby, get a porcelain tile and rub the stone on the backside of the tile. If it scratches the tile and leaves no red mark chances they are rubies. A garnet will leave a color mark because it is a soft gem...

Kray Gelder · Mar 25, 2019

saywhy said:
An easy way to tell if it is a ruby, get a porcelain tile and rub the stone on the backside of the tile. If it scratches the tile and leaves no red mark chances they are rubies. A garnet will leave a color mark because it is a soft gem...

Hmmm.

boogeyman · Mar 25, 2019

No need to test. You can still see the foil on the back and by the scratches & wear on the front it's glass. Clean up the brooch and post some pics.

Gene Mean · Mar 25, 2019

Very nice brooch. I would take it to a jeweler and have them give you an answer.

Professor of Engineering · Mar 25, 2019

Very nice old jewelry find, congrats! :occasion14:

Tpmetal · Mar 25, 2019

another clue of them not being real is that there is a large number of settings, but it is not a precious metal. If it were that many real stones they would not normally waste them without using a precious metal. so probably glass