Pop Quiz, Hotshot

I've been playing with my camera again - mostly because I'm beginning to get the hang of my internet yard sale on eBay and want to do it better, especially with the jewelry.  The Big Lug was onto me about macro photography.  My little Olympus is not the greatest in the world (and I am definitely not the photographer to compensate) but it gets the job done.

Personally, the past couple of weeks have sucked.  Bo went to kitty Heaven, my schedule suddenly had no holes (and I do mean suddenly), and I caught some kind of bug that seems to hit me when I least expect it.

The week before it all hit the fan, however, I found a signed pair of silver earrings in one thrift shop, a heavy pair of 14K in another, and both an 18K gold Omega deVille and a very old piece of milk glass in yet another.  Last Saturday, I found gold and silver, earrings and neckchains, along with Irish pottery at one church sale, some fabulous costume stuff at another, and went completely mad with finds at the "first Saturday" flea market in my area - followed up by a trip to my second-favorite thrift on Monday where I found more silver and costume and gold (oh, my).

Yeah, my allowance took a hit.  But I scrapped out some gold on Thursday (mostly my "oops" stuff) so I was pretty flush.  However, almost everything I bought was such a stunningly ridiculous bargain I didn't actually blow more than I had even without the scrap!  Plus (and this is actually a huge plus) Acid Trip and Electric Kid went with me on Saturday - I went where I thought they'd find the most stuff then I ended up with more treasures than I can handle and had fun, fun, FUN besides (and I wonder if that wasn't Mama Angel's diabolical plan all along ...)

Anyway, so why the title today?  Well, I thought some mysteries might be better (for a change) than the usual reveal.  Truly, the week was amazing not because of all the gold and silver and rare milk glass (well, not only that) but amazing because of the great company, the lack of "gotta hunt, gotta find" urgency, and the part I actually like the best - the research on what I found.

Let's see how good you are!

Okay, a bit of a loot-shot, here, but with good intent.  I was practicing with the camera, silly!  This is a 14K butterfly with a nice chunk of (I believe) natural turquoise (you wouldn't believe how much is actually man-made), sitting beside a sorority/fraternity pin from 1927 and another from 1928, both 10K.  I've no idea what the logos are, here.  I can't see that they're Greek letters (the usual thing) so maybe they're organizational - though I don't usually see date pins with anything but college stuff.  (Oh, and all of this was $14.  See?  I haven't completely abandoned my usual Bunny grin!)

Now it gets fun, though.  I'm still researching some of it, and I haven't tested all the gold yet, but I swear to glory it was international week!  I ran into more unusual marks and weird patterns in the past two weeks than I've done in the past 50 years!  At least, I think so.  Let's face it, it's only been lately that I've opened my eyes (then, as Terry Pratchett would say, "opened my eyes again") so who knows how long I've walked pats this stuff ...

But that's for another day.  Today is about the identification, if you can ... because these are just so cool!!!

Milk glass first.  Both are not common.  I really hope you can get a closer look at the pattern on the candlestick.  I've seen the bon-bon once or twice, but I've never seen the other before (though I have two sugar bowls in the same pattern in white).  Anyone want to hazard a guess?  On either one?

Then there's jewelry.  On the left, there's some interesting karat and maker marks on the tag, though as of yet I have no idea where the necklace is from.  On the right is an obvious origin, but I hope you can read the other wire because I can't figure out the hallmark.

Silver, now.  Both are signed, but though I've identified the one on the left (and can you say "OMG"?), I can't even read some of the stuff on the right - the signature on the drop is easy but the one on the inside of the screwback is different, and, I think, more important to ID.

This one's my favorite.  I've only seen these marks online or in books, and I'm so excited that I found these earrings!  They really are what they say they are (I tested) but I'm over the moon because I now have something with these hallmarks.  (Me?  A dweeb?  Why would you say that?)

So, my experiment in macro is over for now.  It was pretty hard, but I'm getting the hang of it.  Enjoy the pics, embrace your inner geek and do some research, or just make wild guesses but give it a shot.  I'll be sure to publish the answers next week - when I get them all!