I recently inherited this little orb bracelet. I knew nothing about it until yesterday! I finally located a similar pendant and discovered it was a "pools of light" pendant -- popular during the Victorian/Edwardian eras. I thought it was glass--turns out it's rock quartz.
Is there anyone here more familiar with these pendants? Mine is on a bracelet, but I think it might not be original to the bracelet as it's very unwieldly to wear. I've been trying to figure out the maker's mark on the chain to no avail. Are maker’s marks always stamped in the same direction as the purity mark? If so, I think I am seeing “RAB”.
I have been involved in antiques and particularly watch related antiques (this looks like a piece cut from a watch chain and the pendant looks like the sort of thing a man would dangle from his watch chain) for many years and have never seen such a pendant, could I ask where you picked up the description "Pools of Light"? You speak of a "Purity mark", is it a hallmark or just 14K stamped on it? If the latter I would have someone drip some acid on it to be sure since it looks like brass (difficult to be sure from a photograph)
After reading about Pools of Light, I found other references as well.
I suppose it could be a watch fob, although the clasp is different from what I've seen on Victorian-era fob chains. I've actually hung it from a longer watch chain so I could wear it as a necklace. In this picture you can see the kind of clasp I'm used to seeing on watch chains.
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The chain is marked 14kt, but I'm going to have it tested. The hand tooled "wrap" around the orb is either brass or gold, but I suspect brass which was popular in the Victorian era.
Perhaps I could add a point of nomenclature here, a watch "fob" is a short length of fancy wide chain (5 - 6 inches long) worn with a watch to help lift it out of the watch pocket, a special pocket just below the waistband, necessary since the fashion of the time (1780 - 1830) was for very tight trousers or breeches. These can often be seen in portraits of the time. When Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha married Queen Victoria (1839) he brought with him the German fashion of a long watch chain across a waistcoat and this was rapidly copied by gentlemen of fashion, hence, a long watch chain is referred to, particularly in the UK, as an "Albert".
Perhaps I could add a point of nomenclature here, a watch "fob" is a short length of fancy wide chain (5 - 6 inches long) worn with a watch to help lift it out of the watch pocket, a special pocket just below the waistband, necessary since the fashion of the time (1780 - 1830) was for very tight trousers or breeches. These can often be seen in portraits of the time. When Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha married Queen Victoria (1839) he brought with him the German fashion of a long watch chain across a waistcoat and this was rapidly copied by gentlemen of fashion, hence, a long watch chain is referred to, particularly in the UK, as an "Albert".
Thank you for that information, Alan! I never knew the reason for the differences in watch chain lengths. This is a another fob we inherited, by Cartier. This one has the shorter chain. Sadly, we don't know the reason for the inscription of "DON'T PANIC!" on the back.
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This fob must have been a favorite, because the Cartier stamp in the bottom left is nearly worn off. It's almost impossible to see without magnification.
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St. ChristoperhCartier.jpg [ 495.83 KiB | Viewed 4221 times ]
I have a pendant that belonged to my aunt with the exact image of St. Christoper and I just realized it has the mark of Charles Thomae Company! I never put the two together! It's interesting that you said the company made things for Cartier for sale in the US because I think my husband's grandfather only made one trip to the US in his lifetime. I suppose he did purchase it while he was there.
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