ABOUT:
Unique later Georgian to early Victorian era French antique diamond earrings with a star design set with old mine cut diamonds in foil backed settings. Rivet details accent the tips of the stars leading to the contrasting black enamel halo. The Old mine cut diamonds are champagne in hue, and set in silver collets held by silver prongs. Warm, rosy antique patina to the gold with very sturdy and larger gauge ear wires.
The old cut diamonds have crown facets that are long and triangular scissor cuts with large square open culets. (Mine cuts typically have three rows of facets to the crown whereas these have the single row of long facets). Some are more rectangular shaped with squared off corners but with the still softened cushion cut edges in the collets. Perhaps a combination of a French cut / Old Mine Cut ? as diamond cutters at the time used their personal knowledge, taste and expertise to enhance each diamond. It is always fun to find uniquely cut antique diamonds!
This is a French antique pair of earrings. No hallmarks remain but sold to me from a reputable source as 18k which is the standard there and tested to confirm.
I have a brooch for pendant conversion that matches this if a set is desired.
The piece measures about 27x 30mm. It weighs 6.75 grams.
IMPORTANT CONDITION NOTES:
Please note that all my pieces are preowned and in estate condition. Loss to the enamel along the bottom of both earrings. (I've heard of people using enamel paint from a craft store, or even a tiny sharpie pen to fill in the low relief area to darken the image so the loss doesn’t show as much, as it is less intense than enamel repair. It may sound like blasphemy but it actually does a pretty good job of blending so that to the eye it would be black all around.) Typical antique diamonds with some natural illusions seen under magnification. No dark carbon spots. Some rough edges but no cracks. Patina especially to the silver. The latches on these are super tight. Because the ear wires are thicker / sturdier gold so it can be hard to bend them to latch the hooked end into the little opening. It's doable but takes some dexterity and strong fingers so I thought I'd mention it. The trade off is for earrings of this age, you get really secure latches that can be hard to find as many of these antique dormeuse are more delicate in nature.
But Please note due to age, this piece is not in mint condition.
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