Italian Micromosaic Brooch of  Vatican With Image of Owner Wearing It c. 1880

NWS 12-880

~ A spectacular example of an antique micromosaic pin, along with a photo ("cabinet card"?) of its owner shown wearing this exact piece. The photo was taken by Andersen of Springfield, Illinois, and I cropped it in my photo editing program; in actuality this photo is much larger (measures 6 3/8" high and 4 1/8" wide) and remains in its original size

~ Brooch measures 1.75" high and 1.5" wide

~ The mosaic scene is set in black glass, which is wider at the base and tapers at the top, for a 3-dimensional effect; in fact, if you place this brooch on a table, it rises slightly over .25" high from the base to the top

~ The brass bezel setting has 2 additional strands of wire - 1 thicker than the other -  that are rope-twisted around the outer edge

~ Looking through a 10X jeweler's loupe, I can see that the original "C" clasp has been replaced with an older swivel-head safety clasp; the pin stem has also been filed to a shorter length; these are common changes that were done frequently at the turn of the century. Victorian pins usually extended well beyond the edge of the brooch's frame, frequently causing painful finger pricks, so they were commonly shortened by heirs. The replacement of the "C" clasp was also often done on finer brooches to prevent loss

c. 1880, no missing tesserae (tiles), no cracks, no chips - perfect!

Price = $1,375.00