British Arts & Crafts Brooch

[antiquer]

Hello,
Looking to discover the maker of this gold and turquoise pin. Maker's mark is RFB and it is also marked 9CT. Assuming it is English circa 1910 by the gold standard and style. Many thanks for any assistance.
Cheers,
AinA

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[georgiansilver]

There are many makers of items of jewellery such as yours both in the UK and US and some are gold, some are gold plate, some are rolled gold. It is worth finding someone who can test to see if it is gold.
Have not come across this maker as yet...until now.... so no idea who they are.
Best wishes, Mike.
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[gentlemanadventurer]

Hi AinA,
Well, it can not be English as it would be marked with the English hallmarks (town of assay, date letter, and gold grade mark). The English would hallmark 9k as "9 .375", not 9ct.
Turquoise is a southwest U.S. and Mexican stone. It's popular in those areas, and Native American jewelery has phases of "trendiness", but I can't see it exported to England, and reimported (way to expensive for the value of the stone).
The U.S. used a lot of 9k gold in the late 1800's and early 1900's, it was gold and looked like gold, but much less expensive. Today we see a lot of 10k for the same reasons.
Now, it is interesting that it is marked 9ct, instead of 9k or 9kt, the Brits do use c or ct instead of k or kt. I have no idea of the maker, but I bet that he was an English immigrant.
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[georgiansilver]

Gentleman adventurer.....We English used to hallmark gold items with '9ct' in the 1920's and 30's....often without even a makers mark. Hope this information helps you with any quest for knowledge you may have.
Best wishes,Mike.
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[antiquer]

Hello All,
Thank you for the responses and do hope that someone can ID the maker. I'm sure it is English and must concur with Mike about the marks, there are all sorts of exemptions to British hallmarking rules on gold and silver, leaving assay up to the discretion of the maker. Tardy alone lists 2 1/2 pages of them.
Cheers,
AinA
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[georgiansilver]

I believe the manafacturers may be Roberts and Belk who worked in Sheffield around the turn of the century...they closed down in 1910.
Best wishes, Mike.
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[antiquer]

Mike,
Apologies for the poor mark image, appearances aside, the center symbol is not an ampersand, it is a capital "F" and slightly larger than the R and B that flank it. My sense is that the larger font indicates that it is the surname initial for a name along the lines of "Robert Benjamin Foster" or some such thing.

Cheers,
AinA
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[gentlemanadventurer]

Gentleman adventurer.....We English used to hallmark gold items with '9ct' in the 1920's and 30's....often without even a makers mark. Hope this information helps you with any quest for knowledge you may have.
Best wishes,Mike.

Mike, thank you! My quest for knowlege is why I'm here. I based my reply on that everything English I've seen is marked to death :). Looks like I'll have to bite the bullet and spend 145+ USDs on a copy of Tardys from that big internet book seller.
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[admin]

Hi,
Not absolutely sure, but I think the little Bradbury guide to British marks also lists the exemptions (at 10% the cost of tardy). Can anyone verify this?

Tom
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