3 1/2 cttw Antique Edwardian/Victorian Earrings

[LGK]

OK, I''ve been a very bad girl this last month

Since I''ve been busting my butt at my "other" job (mineral makeup) that funds the sparkly stuff among other things, I''ve had to finally get a pair of antique earrings- something I''ve wanted for ages. Perhaps a bit pointless since my hair is so ridiculously bushy, but hey- I will know they''re there!

There were a couple of options I''d been considering. One was a pair of really nice platinum filigree repros, using 2 cts of OECs and single cuts- the workmanship looked fabulous and pretty close to looking like actual Edwardian earrings... but I just couldn''t quite bring myself to get a new pair even with a design I really liked.

I ended up getting this pair from Dover Jewelry off eBay. I doubt they''re quite as described but for the price and the style I really, really don''t care. They say that the two larger stones are about 1 carat each OECs of about I color. I''m betting they''ll be more like M/N, which is OK with me. Dover''s usually good about carat weight measurement but can be off with regard to color. Hopefully no major chips, but as bezeled earring stones I''d doubt they''re likely to be damaged. The melee looks to be single cut- there''s about 1 1/2 cts of melee I think.

The whole dangle bit on the earrings is silver I believe. I think the only gold part is the leverback. Silver for fine jewelry is typically Victorian thing, but the central stones are OECs and the styling is a bit more Edwardian looking to me rather than Victorian. I suppose the OECs could have been a later addition but the design looks pretty smooth and integrated so I doubt it. I would bet they''re probably late 1800s or very early 1900s, since they kind of have elements of both Victorian and Edwardian design, to my eye anyway.

I like the oxidised look of the silver a lot.

I got them for $780, which seems pretty good. Dover had them listed on their own website for $2K. Hopefully I''ll love them in person!

 

[LGK]

.

 

[LGK]

.

 

[LGK]

.

 

[LGK]

Grr, I missed that those two photos above had logos on them. I pestered the mods to remove them for me, so I''m gonna repost them w/o the logo here.

 

[LGK]

.

 

[LGK]

Last one!

 

[SparklyOEC]

Oh my gosh! Those are stunning! I love them.

 

[oddoneout]

Great design.

 

[AprilBaby]

Beautiful! Have you got an ear shot?

 

[LGK]

Thanks everyone

Aprilbaby, no ear shots yet, they''re not in my hot little hands quite yet. I''ll try for some when they arrive but I''m total pants at earshots- I always get Big Fuzzy Blob.

 

[Sky56]

They''re beautiful! ...Looking forward to seeing a picture of them on the ears

 

[PumpkinPie]

wow - how unique ~ I love the detailing..

 

[stci]

Beauties! Adorable!

 

[petrock<3]

Drop dead gorgeous!

 

[LGK]

I got them today! They're absolutely gorgeous. And even better, they're long enough you can see them even with my (bushy, mass quantities of) hair down. Lol the clasps are a huge PITA though. They went on easy- click, and they were well attached. Really well. So well I can't get them off unfortunately! The gold bit was threatening to bend, in fact. I will probably need the clasps redone anyway, because my earlobes are really small and they hang way out of the holes. I think I'd rather have them on posts if I can, that way I can put large backs on them.

Dover's color estimate of the center stones seems right on, which is great. They are very very white, probably no lower than J, and perhaps higher since I couldn't see any hint of color at any angle (of course they're bezeled in silver so it's hard to judge the color). They look like very early OECs- almost OMC, though it's hard to tell. The bezels cover a decent bit of the stone so its hard to tell if they're as round as an OEC or if they're a little cushiony. One especially has a bit of the maltese cross look that OMCs sometimes have. Though it's hard to get a good idea of their size, I'd guess they're about .80 carats each, not quite 1 carats as Dover thought. For the price I don't care, honestly.

I happened to unwrap them in front of one of the antique jewelry dealers at our antique mall- he's been in the business for about 30 years or something along those lines. He said that genuine antique earrings with a decent amount of original stones in them are remarkably hard to come by, and he was really impressed with the price I got them for- he felt that wholesale for them (what he'd pay for them intending to resell) would be about $1200 at a low estimate, and he thought the clasps had been redone once before at least.

Earshot. Gah it was hard to get one! Fuzzy every time...

 

[swingirl]

Those are beautiful!

 

[LGK]

OK, anybody got any helpful hints as to how to unlatch these puppies? As it is, I''m really, really, really not managing to get them off, after fruitlessly struggling with them on and off for a couple of hours here. The very first pic shows the latch best, which is to say not really very well. The way they work is, a post goes through the pierce and has a notch at the very end. The lever piece snaps over the notch. There''s a hinge at the bottom of the lever piece. I''ve been pushing down on the post, and then tugging at the lever piece, sometimes while pushing up at it. Unfortunately the angle sucks and it''s hard to get a good yank on it without ripping at my pierce, or putting too much pressure on the filigree. The notch at the back of the post is really deep, which is the problem I think. Or perhaps I really have bent the part that goes over the notch- it felt like I might have.

As it is, I''m gonna be sleeping in them tonight it looks like. Dangit!

 

[MrsBettyBoop]

No idea on how to get them off but they sure are sexy!

 

[zhuzhu]

You did good! I love working with Dover and your earrings are to die for! What a great price for all those diamonds!

 

[Callisto]

Hahahaha I''ve become obcessed with Dover Jewelry and was TOTALLY eyeing these earrings last week!!!! I''m so glad a PSer got them! Idk how I missed this thread earlier this week. The earrings are beautiful but I do hope you are able to get them off soon....

 

[LGK]

*slinks into thread* Erm. Got them out. Apparently one must be more intelligent than an earring to remove them. Huh. Who'da thunk it.

Well, I never said I had any mechanical aptitude. Um, at all. Whatsoever.

So shall we just ignore my idiocy for the rest of the duration? Sounds good to me anyway!

So on to the closer examination now that I can, er, actually see them up close and loupe them and stuff, since they're out of my ears. They're most likely Old Mine Cuts- very large culets, rough faceting, and maltese crossyness in the middles. Well cut and really sparkly ones at that

. One I can't see any inclusions in, the other has a largish clear crystal just off the table- probably SI2, I can't see it with my eyeball at least in the light in the house.

The bezels hide a freaking *huge* amount of the stone, so, although you can see about 5.5mm of the diamonds, there's a lot more under the bezel. Could even be as much as another mm all the way around, perhaps, so it could be that Dover was pretty close to right on the weight estimate, despite that they don't look like 1 carats.

The melee, interestingly enough, isn't single cut. They're all small OMCs. The earrings are in really good shape, not much wear to the millgrain despite being sterling. I do think they were made sometime between 1890 and 1900, as they do show both Victorian and Edwardian characteristics in the design.

Sparkly OEC, thanks!

Oddoneout, I really love the design too- I'm a sucker for filigree.

AprilBaby, I finally got a pic of my ear up there, it only took about 20 attempts- I had no idea it was so dang hard to hold the camera still while pointed at my ear!

Sky56, thanks!

Maevie, me too.

Stci, thanks! Good to see you on PS by the way, I still love your gorgeous OEC

Your ring in your new avatar looks lovely too actually!

Petrock/www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/1.gif[/img]

Swingirl thanks! (Your ring is one of my favorites ever. That setting is to die for.)

Sparkles&Glitter, they definitely are at that, heh. Thank goodness I finally got them off

Zhuzhu, ah, my fellow Dover fan

Yep, they really do have some unbeatable antique goodies sometimes, huh? I've definitely donated my fair share of moolah to them over the years- my favorite Deco filigree watch and my 2 ct transitional cut were all Dover finds. I adore your sapphire halo you got recently from them- it is just fabulous, I bet you'll get a *lot* of people asking about it IRL.

Callisto, that's pretty funny

I didn't expect to get them at all- I just put a bid I assumed would be way too low on esnipe and forgot about them. Imagine my surprise when I noticed, about 12 hours later, that I'd gotten them! We can stalk Dover together with zhuzhu, heh. I dunno how their prices are so darn good sometimes, but I sure don't mind it!

*slinks back to writing too much code* (I will try to excuse my blatant dumbness with the earring latches on staring at too many lines of it, lol.)

 

[LGK]

Oh! I just discovered something totally, totally neat that only another diamond freak could appreciate. The included one has a large piece of garnet, or other bright red stone, in the pavillion. I couldn''t see it until I flipped it over and I kept thinking there was this red fleck of paint stuck to it. No, actually, it''s a blood-red piece of garnet. It''s only visible pavillion side up from what I can tell, but it''s pretty big and easily visible with the naked eye. I''m really enchanted with the garnet chunk! Garnet''s my birthstone and I really do love it.

 

[zhuzhu]

Date: 4/2/2010 3:33:48 AM
Author: LittleGreyKitten
Oh! I just discovered something totally, totally neat that only another diamond freak could appreciate. The included one has a large piece of garnet, or other bright red stone, in the pavillion. I couldn''t see it until I flipped it over and I kept thinking there was this red fleck of paint stuck to it. No, actually, it''s a blood-red piece of garnet. It''s only visible pavillion side up from what I can tell, but it''s pretty big and easily visible with the naked eye. I''m really enchanted with the garnet chunk! Garnet''s my birthstone and I really do love it.

That is freaking cool!
You have to post MORE pictures! If you are face-shy just do some shadowing trick with photoshop, but you MUST show us a frontal view with both earrings on!!!

 

[princessplease]

They''re SO pretty!!!