French VICTORIAN Antique 18k Gold Day to Night Dangle EARRINGS Etruscan Black

ABOUT:

Striking and timeless French antique day to night antique earrings with beveled black geometric diamond shaped stones set in rich, buttery antique 18k gold with rosy highlights. Etruscan revival in style, the geometric quality to the design gives them a really interesting style that is still relevant to modern day fashion.

These earrings are called "Day to Night" or "Day and Night" because you can remove the dangling pendant portion and wear just the gold dormeuse tops which look like little Christmas ornaments : ). Then when evening comes, you can add the additional pendant to make them more fancy for dinner or the ball. This gives an additional added versatility in that you could wear the dormeuse parts in the ear, and hang one of the pendant parts on a chain as a matching necklace if desired. They are quite clever with the pendant parts held to the earring from the hinge so that when the earrings are opened, the dangling parts don't fall off. To remove them you have to manually slide them up and hold them near the top of the earring, and then open the hinge to slide them off.

These are from the Victorian era, possibly older. Large triangular teardrop shape, the dealer I purchased them from told me they were onyx but I can't confirm that. I think they might be French Jet?

They are hallmarked but the marks are worn so I can no longer decipher anything except seeing a partial goldsmith stamp. Sold to me as 18k which is the standard in France and tested to confirm.

SIZE & MEASUREMENTS:

They are a nice size, measuring 2 inches from the top of the ear wire to the bottom of the pendant. The top dormeuse earrings which can be worn alone without the teardrop dangles are 8mm wide. Combined weight is 4.8grams.

IMPORTANT CONDITION NOTES:

As with all my pieces these are pre-owned and in estate condition. There is a 1.5mm hole to the side of one of the dormeuse ball ornament studs, as it was constructed with hollow space in the middle and the gold had worn thin. It is visible to the eye but it is on the side so if you wore it on your right ear facing towards the back, it would be less noticeable. I would think a goldsmith could patch this if desired? There is also a chip to one of the diamond shaped black stones on the right corner. You can see that it doesn't quite come to as sharp a point. Other than that, some surface wear but still very wearable and functioning.
Quite amazing pieces of French history. But as with all my pre-owned pieces - Please note this is not a mint condition item.

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