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Please help dating these two pieces

DanRusso

Rough_Rock
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Oct 9, 2022
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5
Hi everyone.
I am a humble jewelery collector , enthusiast buying and reselling jewellery and watches by aquintance.

I have some really cool pieces in my collection majority georgian, Victorian and Edwardian but two are very distinct. Was wondering if there are experts out here who could help dating or tell me more about :)

1) purchased at an auction house in Switzerland at roughly 9,500 francs ...about 8,000 usd...
The pice appears to be ancient, byzantine , bactrian or perssian ... likely transmitted as heirloom from generation , some gemstones apear to have been replaced and I suspect the pearls string to be a later. Have tested with the gemstones with a Gemlogis tester and majority of them are Rubies and Emeralds. The necklace tests as 22 carat solid gold.


2) solid gold wired snake with ruby eye. It's made from thin solid gold wires , Woven together in some exceptional matter. Purchased at a mere 25 dollars in a pile of costume jewellery , it quickly draw attention from numerous dealers who made me considerable offers. Tested and found to be 18k Solid Gold

 
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Bron357

Ideal_Rock
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Hi and welcome.
The necklace I feel is Indian from the Mughal period. Because the style is still produced it can be difficult to accurately date. Very beautiful.
The bangle is glorious, what a fantastic find. Without hallmarks it’s not really possible to date or give an origin but Snake bracelets date back to the Ancient Greeks! It’s a quality piece in any regard.
 

LilAlex

Ideal_Rock
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Maybe attach the photos directly to your post -- i won't click on a third-party link and i'm sure many others won't either.
 
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I agree with @Bron357, whatever little I can see of the first necklace in the thumbnail looks like a traditional Indian piece (can’t tell if it’s a choker or gulbandh).

If you post pics directly to the post instead of through a link I’d be happy to share my opinion :)
 

DanRusso

Rough_Rock
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Oct 9, 2022
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I was not able to upload photos directly, I do not know why but would try again.
 

DanRusso

Rough_Rock
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Notes_221009_020039_130.jpg Notes_221009_020054_99b.jpg
 

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That snake bangle is glorious!!

The necklace does read indian-style to me. The clasp is not traditional (the round lobster clasp) so I am fairy sure it’s been added later. Traditionally, the motifs would have been threaded with a fabric closure. The motifs are almost certainly lac-filled (lac is a resin that closed-setting kundan/jadau jewelry pieces are filled with; that the stones are sort of pressed into. So it is a thick 22kt gold frame, but it’s not solid 22kt. I can see places where some of the stones appear to have fallen out to reveal the lac underneath.); but there is no enamel work (meenakari) on the back, which is a bit surprising to me but perhaps pieces being made in the late 19th/20th century would fit the bill best, I feel like nowadays every piece that is made automatically has meena applied to the back; and pretty much all the jewelry from <20th century that I have seen had Meena work, but I’m not an expert. The pearls may actually be original to the piece, small seed pearls around the motifs would be very common.

The techniques used have been used for jewelry making for hundreds of years in india, so it’s difficult to date it exactly off of pics.
 

DanRusso

Rough_Rock
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Oct 9, 2022
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Thank you everyone so far, for the efforts made to identify these... About the necklace; as correctly stated above it is hallow insight (not solid) but having solid gold frame. overall the piece has 62 grams weight. At the time of the purchase, one string line was broken and I had to puncture the existent hole to make room. Some sort of fine sandy dust fell off and I though at the time, it must have been sign of aging or even unearthing.
I have spend numerous hours online looking at Middle eastern pieces (modern and older) however nothing similar came into attention. All modern pieces seem to be made with better degree of accuracy while this piece is rough. Ultimately, neither modern piece I have seen has this type of hinge . I have seen however Roman and Byzantine ancient pieces of jewellery having this kind of hinges...

Screen Shot 2022-10-11 at 2.24.56 PM.png
 
Joined
Apr 22, 2020
Messages
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Thank you everyone so far, for the efforts made to identify these... About the necklace; as correctly stated above it is hallow insight (not solid) but having solid gold frame. overall the piece has 62 grams weight. At the time of the purchase, one string line was broken and I had to puncture the existent hole to make room. Some sort of fine sandy dust fell off and I though at the time, it must have been sign of aging or even unearthing.
I have spend numerous hours online looking at Middle eastern pieces (modern and older) however nothing similar came into attention. All modern pieces seem to be made with better degree of accuracy while this piece is rough. Ultimately, neither modern piece I have seen has this type of hinge . I have seen however Roman and Byzantine ancient pieces of jewellery having this kind of hinges...

Screen Shot 2022-10-11 at 2.24.56 PM.png

My mom has a pendant which has those hinges (which is definitely indian, and from the 40s I believe). It’s not super common, but it’s not unheard of either.

I feel quite comfortable stating that it is Indian and not Roman, but it is also fully possible that they used a similar setting technique in other parts of the world. I dont know enough to say either way.

Look up kundan/jadau jewelry specifically, because even with Indian jewelry there are multiple styles.
 
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