u/VanGoghSaphire

Okay, I had to add more pictures and could not figure out Reddit. Perfect 12 on three sides and then a side of a triangle that does not match its parallel side; it has the double line watermark and it is on extremely thick, fibrous paper. When I measure the perforation center from the next, it reads 1.2 mm on each side, matching perfectly. Honestly, any help would be appreciated. Is this a rare stamp, like I am under the impression? Because I cannot find anything that would lead me another way.

This has been quite the journey; can anyone help me with the identification of this stamp to see if it is in fact an extremely rare variation of the 5-cent Washington from 1910? It has perforation 12 on all sides. It has a watermark that is pretty hard to show on camera but is very visible in person; it has a big S curving through his face and downward out past his chin. The paper is the key factor here: 1. It is thick, with a night-and-day thickness difference compared to the standard issue. 2. The paper seems to have lots of tiny fibers in it. It is actually very apparent throughout the stamp, seeing little bits of blue making up the fibers of the paper, but it is easier to see when shown on the perforations. The stamp was in the possession of a third-generation stamp collector who inherited the collection after her husband died and passed them on to me. I have been going through these for months, just learning history, when this jumped out at me! If anyone could help, I would really appreciate it. This was not a random find; I am very deep into this.

I wanted to get a vintage Native American piece set completely in gold. There are a few vintage Native American pieces out there in solid gold that identify the actual mine the turquoise came from. It is a Timothy Bedah 14k cuff set with 20-25 carats of gem-quality, unstabilized Godber Burnham turquoise. It was a piece that came from a vendor off the Mohawk Trail about 20 minutes north of me. I got to speak to the owner, who never actually wore the cuff. It just sat in his collection for decades; his wife did not wear jewelry and figured the Brimfield Antique Show would be a great showcase for the piece. I spent about an hour researching Tim Bedah's work and his use of turquoise and gold. I am not sure why, but he would go by Jim or Tim for his first name, which confused me, but everything he did was very well documented.He actually made a gold belt buckle for Wayne Newton, he rejected stabilized turquoise, and he won numerous awards in his life. I am currently looking for Native American artists to do a custom piece for me, so if anyone knows a great local artist near New England, please send me a message; this has been an amazing journey. =)

I am seeking a Native American goldsmith with expertise in crafting settings for high-quality turquoise sourced from Navajo and Santo Domingo artisans. From my extensive collection, I have curated three exceptional cabochons, and I have provided 60x magnification micrographs under brightfield illumination for your assessment. Following professional recommendations received at the Springfield gem, mineral, and fossil exposition, I am prioritizing the identification of a master artisan capable of working with these specific stones.

This is so sad because no matter how much magnification or light I use, I cannot read the maker's mark. If anyone could help, I'd really appreciate it. I purchased them in a vintage antique shop, and they were marked gold-filled, so after reading the 750 mark, I paid, tested it, and was very happy, although I really can't stop thinking about who this maker is.

Well, I'm hoping someone can direct me to the right people. I purchased this handbag not knowing a thing about it, under the assumption it was plated base metal. I got home and was astounded to find out this was a SOLID GOLD Opera bag by a jeweler named Henry Blank. Acid tested, notch tested, and actually just put a link into 14k solution... 137 grams solid gold... and the bag also tests for palladium. This made me go and have the bag XRF tested, which came back 58.8% gold and 37% silver on every part of the bag. That led me down this rabbit hole...

The Convergence of Geopolitical Strain and Personlal Survival

​The creation of this specific handbag marks a poignant final chapter in the transatlantic partnership between Newark artistry and German manufacturing before the outbreak of the First World War.

• ​The 1912 Design Acquisition: In 1912, Henry Blank secured the rights to this specialized German mesh patent, intending to integrate European mechanical precision with the upscale aesthetic of the American luxury market.

• ​The Shadow of the Titanic: This pivotal business expansion coincided directly with Blank’s fateful voyage in April 1912 aboard the RMS Titanic. Though Blank miraculously survived the disaster—leaving in Lifeboat 7—the tragedy cast a profound shadow over his personal life and corporate timeline.

• ​The 1914 Halt: Within two years of surviving the shipwreck, the eruption of World War I in the summer of 1914 completely severed American-German trade relations. Production under the registered German design (DRGM) ceased entirely, placing a definitive halt on the firm's imports until well after the post-war recession and the onset of the Great Depression. Consequently, the production window for this specific handbag was abruptly constrained to a brief, highly volatile period between 1912 and 1914.

​Unprecedented Period Value and Rarity

​Because it was crafted from incredibly rare and experimental metallurgical components for the pre-war era—most notably the intentional inclusion of palladium alongside gold and silver—the production cost of this handbag would have been astronomical for its time.

​Historical Value Comparison: > Between 1912 and 1914, a bespoke commission of this tier would have commanded an estimated retail price of $600-$800. To put this luxury in perspective, a brand-new Ford Model T retailed for roughly $500 to $550 during those exact years. When someone walked into an opera house with this exact piece, they were carrying a functional work of art that cost as much as a new automobile. It was a massive financial statement specifically designed to show off cutting-edge metallurgy and unmatched human effort.

• Architectural Innovation: The Finger Lock and Stylograph Clasp

​At the apex of this piece lies the crown jewel of its engineering—the custom-engineered finger lock mechanism, integrated directly with a stylized, high-relief variant of the firm’s signature hallmark.

• ​The Stylograph Mark: Unlike the standard, mass-market stamps applied to production pieces in later decades, this clasp features an elegant, abstract "stylograph" representation of the Cresarrow mark. Serving simultaneously as a functional mechanical release and a subtle artist’s signature, this artistic execution strongly implies a piece intended for an internal presentation or an intimate, bespoke commission.

• ​The Finger Lock System: The mechanism exemplifies the firm's transition from traditional, external clasp hooks to fluid, modern internal security systems. It operates with a seamless, intuitive kinetic release tailored specifically for effortless handling—a testament to the specialized horological engineering background that Henry Blank & Co. applied to their finest luxury vanity items.

​The mechanical clasp is crowned by a striking, deep-blue sapphire cabochon that anchors the visual symmetry of the entire frame.

• ​The Cabochon Cut: Selected with deliberate intent, the smooth, rounded cabochon cut emphasizes the inherent body color and rich saturation of the stone, providing a soft, tactile contrast to the rigid geometry of the precious-metal frame.

​The Interlocking Design: The gemstone is meticulously bezel-set directly into the functional architecture of the thumbpiece. When compressed, the stone acts as the primary contact point for the user, bridging the gap between raw, natural beauty and precision industrial design.

The Agony of Hand-Linked Mesh

While automatic mesh-weaving machines were invented around 1909 (championed by mass-market brands like Whiting & Davis), elite luxury houses like Whiteside & Blank (Henry Blank's firm at the time) proudly rejected machine assembly for their highest-end pieces. We had previously assumed that all handbags simply expanded when items were placed inside. This is not the case; in fact, the mesh is exceptionally thin, characterized by "fish-scaled" links, a feature typically reserved for the most exquisite gold handbags. The impeccable balance of robust metal with the tactile sensation of fine silk is a true testament to masterful craftsmanship and immediately distinguishes this handbag from mass-produced items of subsequent eras.

A master bench jeweler had to hand-draw the 14K green gold into a wire thinner than a human hair, wrap it into thousands of microscopic rings, cut each ring, link them together one by one, and then manually solder every single individual link so the mesh wouldn’t unspool.

The Palladium and Green Gold Formulation

• In the 1912–1914 window, the jewelry world was experiencing a massive crisis: platinum was becoming incredibly scarce and heavily restricted due to its industrial and military uses leading up to World War I. To pivot away from platinum, master metallurgists began experimenting with secret, proprietary recipes using palladium (a sister metal to platinum) to bleach gold into white and green alloys. Because these formulas were brand new, highly unstable to melt, and difficult to work with, a company like Henry Blank charged a premium for mastering a specialized alloy that didn't tarnish and held its shape perfectly.

As a highly individualized piece that completely bypassed the standardized factory stamps of the later Cresarrow era, its survival in flawless, unaltered museum condition makes it an irreplaceable monument to pre-war luxury, European-American design collaboration, and the resilient legacy of Henry Blank. It represents the absolute absolute peak of American jewelry manufacturing before machine-stamping and World War I changed the industry forever

So I recently inherited a double strand of 14k pearls that are silk strung and knotted, double graduated, and have a beautiful old-cut sapphire on the clasp. The pearls are pretty well matched, but they seemed very misshapen and off next to my cultured pearls. So I used my light to look for banding. I saw beautiful treelike waves banding going outwards from the pearls, and the fact that they, although opaque, become pretty transparent when backlight is applied. Can someone help me identify these? They would roughly be from the late 1800s up to about when she passed. Any help is appreciated!

When twinning enhances but does not distort the primary star, it produces a rare and remarkable optical phenomenon — a compounded effect arising from polysynthetic lamellar twinning. In this specimen, both partial Brazilian law and Dauphiné law twinning are clearly observed. Under Brazilian law, the asterism manifests as a star-shaped glow rather than discrete star rays. This occurs due to multiple layers of finely intergrown rutile silk, which, when illuminated with diffused light — such as daylight through cloud cover orindirect light reflected from a mirror — create the illusion of hundreds of miniature starsreflecting within one another. The result is a luminous star-shaped core radiating outward from the crystal’s c-axis, producing a soft, expanding glow characteristic of the Brazilian twinning system. Importantly, this unique pattern does not interfere with the other twinning laws present within the same crystal.

Linde star or Natural star sapphire leave your guess in the comments!