Antique Victorian Orangey-Red Carnelian Agate & White Quartz Brooch With Fine Gold-filled Etruscan-style Border buy

Here is a fabulous antique Victorian specimen Carnelian agate and white Quartz brooch - very pretty indeed !! An Etruscan-style gold-filled frame around this oval brooch, with a beautiful orangey-red carnelian agate stone that has a narrow band of creamy-white dividing it from the crystalline Quartz - an eye-catching choice of stone-cutting. It has a translucent appearance when held up to the light. We know this is Victorian as it has the classic T-bar hinge, curly C-clasp and extra long pin - essential for staying done up on the heavy fabrics of the Victorian dresses. This pin was used right on into the Edwardian period too, but this has all the look of a classic late Victorian design.

This is a medium-sized brooch at 3.3cms high x 4cms wide (1 1/4" x 1 5/8") and has a large curly C-clasp, in the traditional Victorian manner !! I love the gorgeous orangey red block of colour of real Carnelian Agate, which makes up three-quarters of this handsome stone and then gives way to the crystalline greyish-white colour on the last quarter. The Victorians prized interesting agates and the sectioned and/or stripey ones were the most highly prized of all - the bolder the colours the better.

There are no hallmarks on this or signatures of any kind. The frame is most likely to be gold-filled which is similar to gold-plating but usually lower value gold, probably 14 carat perhaps. The frame has that rich yellow colour which usually indicates the presence of a thin gold layer if there is no hallmark.

CONDITION:
This brooch is in pretty good condition for its great age. There is no problem at all with the pin which seems to have been replaced at some stage, as it's very silver in colour and could be steel. The Etruscan-style knobbly buy border is in pretty good condition and the tube hinge works well. This brooch has a safety chain attached to the frame, but it doesn't really need it as the curly C-clasp is really closed up - you have to push the pin into it and pull it out again to undo it. Pretty safe I should think !!

CARNELIAN
Carnelian is the red, orange, or amber variety of Chalcedony. Though often a solid colour, it can also be banded, in which case it would be jointly classified as both Agate and Chalcedony. Carnelian is an ancient gemstone, having been used as decorative and jewellery material since antiquity. The Ancient Egyptians were very fond of it and used it for all their rusty-red coloured gems.

Carnelian is translucent, although it can be nearly opaque but will still let light through when viewed from the edges. Though Carnelian is often a solid colour, it may contain stripes like this one, or lighter and darker zones within a single stone, or cloudy areas.

I personally love all the different agates and thus I really love Victorian and Edwardian jewellery like this, for its agate content, especially when combined with sterling silver or silver-plated metal, which suits it particularly well.