C1690-1700 Stewart Crystal brooch...

[jewelhound]

Hi Everyone, 1st post on Pricescope. I have come across a potentially very interesting find....

A stewart crystal pendant has come up for auction. with four crystals.... Now the auctioneer has said the piece has been combined with a later probably victorian conversion....

I was hoping to get a 2nd opinion on this piece??? Particularly on the portraits??

 

[jewelhound]

 

[VRBeauty]

I'm not at all an expert so take this with a grain of salt, but I'd guess that the portraits are mourning jewelry... which would explain the skulls and the hourglass. If the piece was indeed cobbled together, The pair of "kissing" doves likely the two individuals were a couple, and with mourning brooches (or rings or whatever) put together after the second person's death. The crowns and (I think) scepter suggest that this couple was somehow associated with royalty. I'm puzzled, though, by the fact that piece depicting the birds seems to be oriented wrong, as compared to the other three components.

http://www.collectorsweekly.com/fine-jewelry/mourning