Inspired by the recent thread Great Thrift Store Finds, I stopped at a thrift store in Manassas, VA, and found an antique golden locket, engraved with initials, with two photos inside of a baby and a man. I thought it was neat and bought it for 25 cents. My best uneducated guess, judging from the photos, is that it is from the late 1800s. Please take a look at it here and help me learn more about it…
(1) What are the initials? I can’t tell what the first one is… but I think the last two are ‘v a’
(2) Is it gold?
(3) How old is it?
(4) Has anyone else seen similar lockets? Does it have any value?
I imagine it belonged to a woman and the photos are of her husband and baby. It makes me kind of sad that this heirloom ended up at a thrift store sold for 25 cents. However, I’m glad I found it because I will always appreciate the sentimental value of it, even though I have no idea who the people are.
On the outside, it looks very much like a locket that I have that was my grandmothers; same loop, same shape and size, and similar type of engraving. The inside is slightly different, but they’re very close. I’ll try to get a picture of mine and post it - not tonight, though, I’m too tired.
Mine is gold (not plated), but with a rosy tint. It doesn’t match any of my regular yellow gold chains exactly.
Mine is from the early 1900s. If I had to guess I’d say mid-teens.
I can’t read the lettering. They will probably be the initials or name of the person the locket belonged to rather than those of the peoples whose photographs are inside.
It looks like it’s gold plate, judging by the wear on the inside but it’s a bit difficult to tell form pics alone. The outside may be solid gold - it doesn’t seem to have any wear where it’s been dented. Does it have any hallmarks? They would usully be on the rear of a piece like this. It may say “9ct” which would indicate 9ct solid gold. If it’s unmarked it will be plated. Sometimes plated pieces are marked “9ct Lnd” or similar which stands for “lined” ie. plated. Very occasionally you may find a piece fully hallmarked with a date mark which identifies it’s age conclusively. The tiny photo frames themselves look brass.
The clothing looks c 1900. Just a thought, the man looks latin-ish. Does “Tua” or "Sua"mean anything significant in spanish or italian?
eta lockets like this where very popular and it’s not a very exciting example of it’s type, sorry, although having the original glass is a sellling point. If it’s plated it would fetch $50 - $75 here, solid, maybe $150 with the ding buffed out. Way more than 25 cents!
Mine also has a rosy tint - although it’s not apparent from the photos. It’s not as yellow as other gold things I have - it’s more pinkish.
I have a feeling it may be gold, and not gold-plate, because there is no wear on the outside, front or back (only on the inside). I would think that there would be worn spots if it were gold-plated.
Yes it’s not terribly exciting from the outside. It’s very plain, a plain circle with initial - not as ornate as some other ones I have seen. However, it was the photos inside that I liked. I doubt I would have even given it a second thought without the photos.
Just another thought - I just think the baby is so cute! I wonder if it’s a girl or boy - because I know back in that era they would put gowns and bonnets like that on girls and boys.
A question - should I open up the photos inside and see if there is a name or a year written on them, or anything else inside? I certainly don’t want to damage it.
I found some similar lockets on this web site such as this one which is described as “gold filled” (what does that mean?) and says that it dates from the turn of the century. Here are two more similar lockets with photos: one and two.
p.s. In some of the lockets on this page, there are marks on the inside of the locket, behind the photos. I wonder if I should check?
Ok, I looked behind the photos and here is what I found. It says either “1/4 gold shell” or “14 gold shell.” It also has another mark, inside a heart shape, three initials I can’t read (presumably the manufacturer) and “00” Does this mean 1900??
I could really use a magnifying glass. It’s really hard to see. You can actually see the markings better in the photo because my camera blew it up. Also, I could probably get a better photo in daylight - that one is taken under my fluorescent kitchen light.
By the way, I replaced the photos and the little frame rings, and now it won’t close all the way! The rings appear to be flush, but it still won’t close tight. I have to fiddle with it.
p.s. Could I get it cleaned safely (photos removed of course)?
I think that the letters and numbers inside the heart are MAR 00 and stand for March 1900. A rosy tint in gold means that it is “rose gold” which was popular at that time and is becoming popular again. You can see the rosiness best right around the photographs themselves.
In the [url=http://www.sundancecatalog.com/sdx/H23142.jsp]Sundance Catalog*, there are several rose gold rings about midway down the page. I would give my eye teeth for one.
I’m no expert, but I don’t see many rose gold plated items. I do see rose gold in 9kt, 10kt, 12kt, 14kt and 18k. There may be other weights. If you have this piece cleaned, I wouldn’t have it chemically cleaned, only cleaned out with a cotton squab or something similar until you find an expert on old jewelry who can tell you for certain if it will hurt the value to clean it.
Some people don’t like items with names or ititials on them. I just love them! And since this is apparently a rose gold piece, I would have paid $50 at least for it dings and all. I have no idea how much it is worth.
Wow, thanks for the info Zoe! That is really cool. It inspires me to go to more thrift shops to see if I can find more rare treasures!
On a side note, at the same thrift shop I also bought a plate just like this one: Goebel bird collector plate (blue titmouse) and a figurine like this one: Lefton china owl, for $4 and $2. Of course, those aren’t worth all that much more, but I really like them since I’m a big bird aficionado.
I think that the engraving looks like “Yva.” Possibly an alternate spelling of Eva. It could have also belonged to the mans mother. The pictures being of him as a baby, and as an adult.
I doubt wether it is true rose gold. True rose gold is about 25% copper and was not commonly used for plating. However, a common practice was to mix small (ie. less than 25%) amounts of copper with the gold which gives old yellow gold a slight rosy hue. That’s what this piece looks like.
eta - don’t clean it right up and don’t use chemicals or abrasive cleaners on account of it being plate not solid. Just buff it up with a jewelry cloth.
