MODERN BROOCH

1800

Copper alloy, shell, ceramic and/or glassBrooch. Cast heart-shaped back plate with a finely cabled rim and cabled wire strings defining a complex floral design comprising: a central roundel including a red and brown five-petalled flower motif and four barnacle-shaped florets, within a six pointed star-shaped wire border defined by six curving segments equidistantly spaced around its outer edges, and with both segments and interstices also filled by delicate floral designs. The outer floral designs are fan shaped settings of folded material with outer borders of tiny white triangles, and with inner edges of red paste or sky blue segments, the colours alternating. The back plate retains a hinged pin holder (pin lost) and the stub for a catch plate (also lost). This appears to be a miniature version of a sailor's keepsake plaque, an object class usually rendered in seashells. Suggested date: Modern, 1800-1900.Height: 25.2mm, Width: 24.3mm, Thickness (clear of pin gear): 4.9mm, Weight: 5.14gms.