Trade Silver Necklace Parts?

BIENER

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Apr 27, 2016
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Reading a few posts on the forum I came across a pattern on a ring that looked familiar. I dug through my box of goodies and found the piece I am referring to and compared. Looks close but I'm definitely not the expert.

Take a look.
ImageUploadedByTreasureNet.com1491867800.715934.jpg
ImageUploadedByTreasureNet.com1491867820.532456.jpg
ImageUploadedByTreasureNet.com1491867847.593030.jpg

The toothpick is for size reference. This appears to be part of a necklace. Is this enough info to go on? Could this be from that period?
 

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Period? What is/ was the context of the marked piece?
Yes it could be a piece of a piece of trade silver jewelry .

The silver piece with the pattern might be part of a larger round ,or wheel. Either cut to fraction the value of an exchange ,or by an owner to make more pieces?

Nice pieces you have!
 

Last edited:
This came from a site that recently produced a ring that was classified as fur trade era. Another post had a ring with a similar pattern. Curious if the patter was indicative of a particular period.
 

Yes, R.C. is correct, the piece in question was cut out of a larger silver trade brooch to be worn as adornment.
In my experience, there are more modified pieces (like yours) than actually complete trade items.
It could have been cut from a brooch, gorget, hat band, bracelets, etc. Why accept one silver brooch when you could cut it up and make many pieces from it?
The silver cones are from "ear bobs" (earrings) that are missing the circular wire and hollow ball attachment.
I would work every whisper in that site as small cut silver pieces can be a challenge to find.
Nice finds. Keep it up!
Cheers,
Dave.
 

Thats trade silver for sure, superb finds!
 

I've learned there are a couple methods used to engrave Fur Trade Silver and they are easy to identify. One is Roulette Engraving and this technique is created by a wheel or revolving disc with sharp teeth mounted on a handle. This produces a very uniform zigzag pattern. The other is called Rocker Engraving which is created by a continuous minute zigzag motion. This is a hands free technique performed with a screw driver-like burr that is pushed forward while rocking the cutting edge from side to side. Irregular spacing is characteristic of this free hand technique. Based on the picture you have provided, I see an irregular style pattern which leads me to believe they used a rocker style method to engrave on this fur trade silver piece. You have posted some very nice pieces from the fur trade era and I would comb the area very slowly.
 

Yes, R.C. is correct, the piece in question was cut out of a larger silver trade brooch to be worn as adornment.
In my experience, there are more modified pieces (like yours) than actually complete trade items.
It could have been cut from a brooch, gorget, hat band, bracelets, etc. Why accept one silver brooch when you could cut it up and make many pieces from it?
The silver cones are from "ear bobs" (earrings) that are missing the circular wire and hollow ball attachment.
I would work every whisper in that site as small cut silver pieces can be a challenge to find.
Nice finds. Keep it up!
Cheers,
Dave.
Listen to Dave.........he knows!
Nice find's, Biener!

Iowa Dale
 

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