MIZPAH? new pic of stone colour added

[jenznz56]

Hi, some photos at last. Can anyone please give me some likely history on this brooch. I am assuming this is a paste stone as it is huge - 3.8cm accross and the brooch itself is 7 cm accross. <PICTURE ONE>The silver is very shiney, there are no silver marks and it almost looks as if it has been resurfaced as there are scuff marks around the stone which the 'silver' seems to have covered?? <PICTURE TWO> There is a mark on the back - the word 'MIZPAH' with two hearts side by side that have an arrow through them both. <PICTURE THREE> on the back the clasp could have been repaired as the metal on the 'pointy' end of the clasp is different to the rest, also the joining of the pieces on the hinge end is strangely rough <PICTURES FOUR AND FIVE> I bought it with two others from a family selling grandmothers things after her death. They said she had had them for many years and they were cherished.

With backlighting the stone is a much more purple colour than the first pics show <PICTURE SIX>

So - what do I have here? Appreciate any help, thankyou in advance. Jenny




(click on thumbnails to enlarge)

Cheers from down under - Aotearoa New Zealand, the land of the long white cloud.

[Neruda]

MIZPAH is the Hebrew for Watchtower. It is also, apparently an acrostic for "May The Lord watch between me and thee while we are absent one from another."
These brooches often have a Scottish theme - thistles etc., so I guess they were used for fastening kilts or tartan shawls.
So, did the family emigrate from Scotland? And, if so was this brooch a parting gift?

[Mc.Didi]

Hi, jenznz56, I don't know what's going wrong but I still cann't see any pictures of your broch...

Anyone having the same problem ?

greetz from Belgium

[jenznz56]

Hi McDidi of Belgium,

If you click on the second thumbnail it will enlarge in size and the mark will be visable. Cheers. Kiwi Jen

[jenznz56]

OOPS I mean THIRD thumbnail! sorry! And the eothers as well if you ant a closer look at anything. Jen

[Mc.Didi]

Hi Kiwi Jen,

I don't know what the other members are seiing but the're neither pictures nor thumbnails...

Normaly I'm using IE ( Internet Explorer ) and already did a checkup with Mozilla Firefox with rather the same result...so no images at all...

Cheers, Mc.Didi

[admin]

Mc.Didi,
I'm seeing them fine on both IE and Firefox. Are you having the image problem elswhere on the forum or just in this post?
Tom

[Mc.Didi]

Hi Tom,

I've got that image problem just on this post...just checked some other ones to be 100% sure and all the rest is working fine...

Greetz, Mc.Didi

[admin]

It may be the size of Jen's images, they are each 27 inches wide, when that large, they take 5 minutes apiece to load on a page with a dial up connection. I'm guessing that computers without a ton of ram may just refuse to even try to access them. I've copied a couple and have reduced them to more useable proportions. Hopefully these will show for you.

Jen,
The brooch appears to be a costume copy of a tradional Scottish brooch. I checked the name with a knowledgeable costume jewelry dealer and was told that "Mizpah" has been used as the trademark for a few different costume companies over the course of the twentieth century.
Tom

[jenznz56]

Many thanks everybody, And for confirming this is costume jewellery. Knowing what to look for and what such looks like will help me buy more wisely in the future, I am finding Im receiving so much pleasure in these old things I need to get a grip and make sure there is enough $ left in kitty to pay the rent at the end of the week!! hahahaha

Love this site - have learnt so much to assist in kicking me off as a smalltime collector. thank you thank you thank you everyone - Ill be posting lots more when I get stuck! Kiwi jen nz