How do you judge Cloisonne jewelry?

[billjustbill]

How do you judge Cloisonn'e jewelry?

I was late to an estate sale, but there were still baggies of jewelry left out on a cardtable. One of the workers in charge of that area said that the family traveled extensively and that most of that jewelry probably came from Japan.

Never seen thin necklaces marked "Silver", $3.00 each, the necklace length, and place in part of an egg carton... One of them wasn't silver, it was marked 14kt and weighs 1.2 grams (worth about $30).

In a Baggie marked $4, with assorted jewelry, I saw a small Sterling bracelet, and among the other pieces, there was this heavy red cloisonn'e pendant.

After getting home, I was looking through my pocket magnifier, inside the pendant's bail it is stamped 14kt....and has a "feel" of mass, but I just don't know anything about how much more the gold marking represents.

With this type of jewelry, what can you expect of it when marked like that?

 

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[cyberdan]

Re: How do you judge Cloisonn'e jewelry?

With this type of jewelry, what can you expect of it when marked like that?

JACKPOT!!!

that is just a thin layer of colored glass. Probably no more than 1-2gr.
Try selling on feebay first you may get more that spot.

 

[billjustbill]

Re: How do you judge Cloisonn'e jewelry?

With this type of jewelry, what can you expect of it when marked like that?

JACKPOT!!!

that is just a thin layer of colored glass. Probably no more than 1-2gr.
Try selling on feebay first you may get more that spot.

So you mean it may actually be cast 14kt gold by the way it's marked? Are you saying it's worth about 26 grams of 14kt or is it gold wires used to seperate the colors and therefore much less weight?

I'm already purple holding my breath to see your response.....

Bill

 

[cyberdan]

Re: How do you judge Cloisonn'e jewelry?

So you mean it may actually be cast 14kt gold by the way it's marked? Are you saying it's worth about 26 grams of 14kt or is it gold wires used to seperate the colors and therefore much less weight?

I found out a long time ago to never trust the makers mark. The only way to know for sure is destructive testing. If everything is as marked it is worth about $730.

If I had paid as little as you did I would take my file and get down to bare metal then electronically test. Another way is go to a high priced jewelry store and ask if they buy gold. Get a bid, If it is all 14K (probably 13K) you will get a low ball offer of $200 or so. Thank them and get the h*## out of there and send to ARA to refine.

 

[billjustbill]

Re: How do you judge Cloisonn'e jewelry?

I found out a long time ago to never trust the makers mark. The only way to know for sure is destructive testing. If everything is as marked it is worth about $730.

If I had paid as little as you did I would take my file and get down to bare metal then electronically test. Another way is go to a high priced jewelry store and ask if they buy gold. Get a bid, If it is all 14K (probably 13K) you will get a low ball offer of $200 or so. Thank them and get the h*## out of there and send to ARA to refine.
[/quote]

Thank you for the followup, Dan.

Since I don't have any attachment to this pendant, I'll file two notches on it to get to the base metal. Doing those symmetrically placed opposed to each other, that way I can sell it as costume jewelry just in case it's too good to be true.

Thanks for your insights and showing me the ropes!! I'll post what I find out....

Bill