Did my OMC earrings come in Georgian era settings?

[GemFever]

Dear PSers,

About two weeks ago I went to my first Intergem show and fell in love with a pair of OMC earrings. I put down a deposit and now I’m paying them off… and of course counting the days until they are in my hands (if all goes well, just 7 days left!). While I’m waiting, I started doing some research, read everything I could about OMCs and OECs here on PS. Quite a lot of useful info!

During my research, I stumbled upon some posts about antique paste earrings, and decided to do a search for paste on Etsy, just out of curiosity. To my surprise, one of the first hits I got were earrings that were in the exact kind of silver & gold setting as my OMCs (except more "prongs").

http://www.etsy.com/listing/93380134/antique-georgian-paste-button-earrings

I did more searches, and it looks like this was a common style in the Georgian era. Here’s another pair for sale:

http://www.barneys.com/Paste-Drop-Earrings/00505017900867,default,pd.html

When I was buying the OMC earrings, I didn’t expect the settings to have any “pedigree” at all, though I did like how simple they looked, and how the diamonds were set in silver.

Now, I am curious if anyone here can comment on these settings. My understanding (gleaned from Etsy and some basic google searches) is that the silver parts initially may have been cufflinks or buttons, but then were converted to earrings. The earrings originally were probably paste, and had closed backs of silver. Then, I imagine these paste earrings were fitted with the OMCs they currently hold, and the backs were removed. Does that sound plausible? And also, is the Georgian period the right one?

Lastly, I’m curious whether the settings of these earrings have any value in their current condition. I imagine the pricey paste earrings cost what they cost because they are original to the period. Settings that have been converted, like mine, probably lost that historical value, right?

The pics of my earrings were taken with a phone at Intergem, sorry I don’t have pics from various angles, or the backs. Hopefully I’ll be able to post updated pics soon

Diamond info: ~1ct each, G-H color according to EGL-USA, which I take it means around I-J in reality?

Any info much appreciated! Cheers!

- Anya

 

[Circe]

Those settings look like they were made to fit those specific diamonds pretty closely. I think what's making you scratch your head is the use of silver for precious stones, yes? But before the advent of platinum and white gold, that's what was common: for example, check out this pair: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Old-Europea...434?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cbf43f42a. My vote would be that they're original ....

 

[GemFever]

Circe, thanks so much for your response!

The silver part actually made sense to me. I guess what surprised me was that exact design (the same shape, prongs) with paste for sale by various vintage jewelry dealers. And that I read that those earring heads were already re-used buttons or cufflinks. So I figured they were re-used again... and the last thing is that the cushion stones were set in round settings. But maybe that's how things were done back then.

If the earrings are original, do you think there's any chance they date back to the Georgian era? Or is it likely something more recent?

I'm planning to pick up the earrings in two days! Excited beyond words

 

[Lotus99]

Do you know which country they're from? If they're from England, you'll be able to use the hallmarks to pin down a year.

It's possible they're later than Georgian. A lot of older designs continued to be used long after new styles came in.

I'm excited to see pics of your new earrings!

 

[GemFever]

Lotus, thanks for your response!

I'll ask the seller tomorrow (tomorrow! eek!) if she knows where the earrings came from, or if she has any idea about the time period. I'll be back from NYC on Saturday night, so pics will probably come up sometime Sunday morning

I'll see if there are any stamps... I didn't notice any when I first looked at the earrings at Intergem, but I admit I was distracted by the diamonds

 

[GemFever]

The pics are up in SMTB!

[URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/2ct-omc-earrings.175407/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/2ct-omc-earrings.175407/[/URL]

I didn't make much progress in figuring out the origin of the earrings. The seller didn't know, except that they were European. There are no markings that I can see on the settings. The gold components of the earrings (the wire, and the back of the bezel) seem to have been attached to the silver "bezel" and prongs at some point. The silver part does appear to be somewhat cushiony... but the edges of the stones spill out from the settings just the tiniest bit. So I don't think the silver settings were made for these stones originally. I guess I'm back to my original hypothesis, unless someone more knowledgeable can chime in with suggestions, which I would greatly appreciate

I'll post a couple additional pics of the settings here.

Cheers all!

 

[Lotus99]

I guess you may never find out their true history. They're beautiful, so at least you can enjoy them in all their mysteriousness.