Antique 30 oz silver chain and silver dragon medallion

By bpop671, 10 September, 2012
Description

About 30 ounces of silver, the medallion is hand etched, the chain is thick and long, no hall marks, was told it was given to a soilder for having alot of kills over 200 years ago

Category
General Antiques and Collectibles
Medium
.999 Silver medallion, Sterling Silver chain
Distinguishing marks
None
Condition
Mint
Size and dimensions of this item
Unkown
Date Period
1700s-1800s
Weight
29 ounces
History
I was told it was given to a soilder almost 200 years ago for killing alot of men.
For Sale?
No
Photos

Lovejoy

12 years 10 months ago

First of all you'll have to get it tested to see if it is indeed sterling silver. Most silver, even pieces of great age tend to have some markings to indicate silver content. Ther eis no way of knowing what yours is made out of until it's tested.

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This site doesn't specialize in antique medallions from the 1700s. Obviously it is a unique piece and you seem to know more about it than you are letting on. If you had it examined by a real expert in the field you should feel confident in the values given. I would be interested to hear what they have to say about it. With that said, I can guarantee unless this has some extreme histocial value it is not going to bring anywhere near what you are expecting when if/when it goes up for auction. Quite a few of these chinese/indian origin pieces are not as old as they are thought to be and have very little demand other than their inherit metal values. Obviously if you can definitely say it is a one of a kind award given to a specific soldier or one of few awards given that opens up an entirely different market. Don't expect to get niche info regarding specific fields, especially ones with foreign items, on a site that you don't pay anything for....

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They're not negative, they're realistic. No one on this site can help you with the identifaction of a handmade piece like this, it's a field that someone could devote their entire life to. You need an expert in the field, which will cost you.

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I am sure you do not want to hear this either, but the fish is right....first there is very little silver that 999...it is almost always mixed with an alloy of some kind to make it soft enough to carve and work.  A metal expert can tell you the alloy used and that can help determine the age.  The Chinese are notorious for creating antiques, many that fool even the experts.  I would love to know what kind of provenance the piece has, other than someone making a bunch of claims.  But with all that said, there is no way anyone can give you anymore info than its value in weight without further testing and a look at whatever provenance it might have.  

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Thank you for your opinion, but I'm mainly interested to see if anyone has SEEN anything like this before, it has been  appraised and they are charging me almost $800 in fees to get a certificate.  So i wanted to see how RARE it is, I personally think its worth alot more. Lol and I'm sure you don't want to hear this but the fish is wrong... i can guarantee you that it is worth way more than a dime over scrap value.  If anyone has SEEN anything like this before please let me know. Thank you

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I just recently purchased this and don't know anything about it, it was appraised by the previous owner some time ago. He was told it is from the 1700's, I tested it myself and it is indeed silver, it is about 30 ounces in weight, and has a BEAUTIFUL etching of a dragon,  I have NEVER seen anything like this, and because it is so unique was the reason I bought it. 

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Well you have to think about it like this. Back in the 1700's if that date is correct, all jewelry was special and unique.

There wasn't mass production like there has been since the 1900's. I have several Victorian rings that I know are also unique and I have never seen another like them.

Also the Chinese or Japanese have always been very talented at carving any type of material so the quality is standard especially from that time period. 

I hope your appraiser specializes in Asian art /jewelry because if not you are most certainly being ripped off by that person. 800$ is a very large fee for an appraisal.

 Have a good day.

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I see so many flaws and ego-driven attempts at sounding superior in these comments. Fish... first of all, you said, "This site doesn't specialize in antique medallions from the 1700s." This is by far the dumbest thing I have ever read on a few different levels. 1... if you don't specialize in antique medallions, why did you appraise it to begin with? 2... you don't work for "this site", so of course it doesn't specialize in antique medallions. All the appraisers are user created accounts, no different from somebody who posts on here to ask for an appraisal. 3... you give false appraisals. On my post about the burial dolls, you said that you had not personally seen a doll sell for more than $20 or $30, and that they were probably made in the 1960s. With a response like that, you must be an expert of antique dolls from a foreign land, right? I've already had the fabric examined and know when they were made. The fact you said they were probably made in the 60s shows you have no idea what you're talking about to begin with. As far as I know, and according to the University of Wisconsin, production stopped by the 1930s. Remakes began in the 90s as value of original chancay dolls increased.

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Next time I see your photograph I'll make sure to just not give you any information. Your comments are unwarrananted and childish. I have zero interest in your stupid burial dolls, note I said the age doens't matter anyways as I was able to locate numerous time period authentic works in the same price range. Some basic research would show you that but apparantly as a new user who knows it all you've got that all taken care of. Don't sign up for this website and start talking trash when you have no idea what you are talking about, some people. If you are looking for detailed information on your items (because you're so much better than everybody and your items are clearly worth so much money right) then I'm sure you can afford to spend $75-100 for every 10-20 minutes you spend getting a more accurate appraisal. Good luck. I don't do anything but try to help, coming on here and seeing an idiot new user like yourself trying to make some crazy accusations regarding my appraisals because you are too lazy to worthless to find auction records for yourself. Next time, if you want to confront me about some concerns you have, do it via private message to me personally as opposed to posting ludacris like your message above, loser.

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Still fuming at your ignorant comments...

 

I have zero reason to not give accurate information  on your piece or any others. I spent 10-20 minutes doing some basic research and passed on what I found, you can find all the exact same information online. You clearly don't know much about antiques, these dolls were and are still made as a memoardum to authentics from over a thousand years ago using authentic period textile cloth, have been constantly produced as part of the culture consistantly. It's not like they just stopped making them and selling them to tourists for a timeperiod. Take them to your local museum expert, take them to your local auction, put them on ebay, I could care less. Your dumb dolls aren't worth hardly anything and the sooner you can stop being an immature no life harassing those trying to actually help you the quicker you might be able to move back into reality. I can gurantee these dolls won't bring over $100 if put in any reputable auction, it's not like I'm pulling these numbers ouf ot thin air, theres over 50 examples out there of similar dolls with the price range I gave you. And maybe get a different picture? It looks like you have some mental disorder in the one you posted, probably just confirming you are an ignorant young person anyways..

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But hey, maybe I'm wrong, I'm just human. Regardles it's not my concern. Confronting appraisers doing their best on this site to help you with false allegations and insults won't get you far. About as far as the weird look you have on your (cake?) covered grungy face of yours will get you in real world job market. Don't think because you have some unique item you feel may be worth money, but I disagree with, that I'm giving "false" appraisals. I'm giving people that need to hear it a dose of reality. Now go back to watching pawn stars and storage wars so you can feel like a big dog before trying to point out some other flaw in my generous attempt to appraise your worthless tourtist items....

 

 

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fishwhacker

12 years 10 months ago

The pattern is fairly common, the dragon motif has been used on chinese coins over and over again. I think if someone is charging you $800 you are being ripped off. You shouldn't have to need a second opinion for that kind of money, they should be providing you with a complete history. So you have no idea anything beyond you think it is 1700s, it has a nice dragon carving, and it's silver correct? I'd like to know alot more.

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Furthermore, you trying to interpret my comments on this medallion show you are looking at what I am saying with way too much hasty misunderstanding and misplaced malice. For some reason in your mind my comments on this piece were supposed to be taken as a serious appraisal. Obviously that is not the case. I pointed out at the very least that the value will be in the silver metal in the piece and that any further value with an item like this (of which fakes are rampant) has to be determined by a real expert who has devoted to their life to such works, something they won't be able to find on this free online appraisal website. Quite frankly I didn't want them wasting their time here. It also appears this person has paid $800 to be told some story which they can't provide details for, I believe there is a good chance they were lied to due to the extremely high amount of money they seem to have paid and lack of provenance or history they came out with. The fact they may have been ripped off made me discredit the other information given, and thus the only value I can give is the fact the item will always remain at the very least worth scrap values. I'm sorry you feel I'm obligated to go above and beyond for these people and that I can't comment on value whatsoever because I'm not an expert in ancient medallions.

Apparntly helping people also means my comments are "ego driven" did you get that in college pysch class? If I can't provide full information on a piece I will atleast offer my two cents as a courtesy, I don't get any ego boost out of appraising items or whatever you are trying to get at. I think you may be projecting your personal problems onto what I have said and interpreting my intentions completely wrong. I respect and welcome opinions of others and in no way portray myself as better than anyone here, but the fact is I have been doing this alot longer than you and frankly know alot more. I shouldn't be ashamed of trying to give a truthful comment, and saying the sense of accomplishmen (and only real payment) t I get from the thanks expressed by one of many many people I have legitamently helped is anyway for my own "ego" reasons is moronic and again shows your colors well.

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Fish,

A few weeks ago I had the honor of trying to help a new guy who wanted an apprasial on hundreds of old postcards. He ended up cussing at me ....... Congratulated him for being the first jerk in over 3 years to do so.

I told him the cards sell for a few bucks and I knew this for fact bacause I have many of the same types with the same date period. He also had military photos, WW1 I think it was, same answer, I have many. He basically accused me of lying because I said I had the same items he has, told him it was because they are common items. 

These people dont realize that we are trying to help. They want to be instant millionaires and their hopes get dashed. Good luck with that !! 

Very RUDE people wanting something for free then arguing about it. 

 

K.

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