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This item needs repair but it has family history so I am hoping to get a wee bit more detail before trying to restore. I am assuming it is missing agate - it is tiny and clearly needs a good clean if nothing else. The pin also appears to be someone's handy work (not original) and the catch is gone. It has STG SIL on reverse so sterling silver and a very worn makers mark which I am going to assume the first initial is missing (almost see K or R but well worn) with the final initials being .H.L - essentially without the city assay I am unable to define a starting letter so hoping someone recognises the style and potential maker. My family has Scottish links but essentially the brooch could be from somewhere else. I would just like to have an idea which agate or agates it had so I can bring it back to life. Thanks in advance for your help. Hopefully with a maker I can research how it once looked. Regards Grid

The mark "STG SIL" is often an indication of a New Zealand or Australian origin. As you are in NZ you might like to have a trawl through one of these topics on Australian and New Zealand silversmiths to see if you come up with anything. Some of the images are missing but you might be able to match the initials with a bit of patience.

Phil

I think your L might actually be a Ltd for limited. I can find no evidence of any New Zealand firms using a Ltd though in Winsome Shepherds book of New Zealand Silversmiths and Goldsmiths. Nor can I find any makers with Kh or RH initials. It doesn't mean it's not from New Zealand though.

Thanks for the leads but I am not convinced it is NZ/Aussie origin. A great uncle served in WW1 (was in Egypt) and this item only turned up in my mother's jewellery box relatively recently. Although the great uncle did live in Canterbury, NZ he purchased items for his sister (my grandmother) in various locations. Thus I suspect this item came from my grandmother in Scotland...from early 20th century. The crescent style and remains of agate like stone doesn't fit with NZ unless it was a custom piece which I doubt. I may just end up recreating a Scottish agate style but would be wonderful if anyone recognises the significance or colours used for crescent style brooches. Maybe the WW1 reference isn't significant but we have records of several items such as shawls, etc being sent from Cairo. Regards Grid.

Though the stones are missing, looks typical of a Scottish pebble brooch, and if you use those three words for an internet search, should give you an idea of the wide variety of agates used. Suppose it could have been made in Australia or New Zealand to Scottish taste - but have seen other small Scottish items marked as 'STG SIL', probably the most easily identified, some early Alexander Ritchie IONA pieces. If interested, Dawes and Davidov's 'Victorian Jewelry' (1991) has a large, well illustrated chapter on pebble jewelry...

~Cheryl

A footnote from Victorian Jewelry by Margaret Flower (1951): Scotch pebbles were usually pieces of agate, quarried near Perth. They were frequently cut and mounted at Oberstein in Germany. (Harry Emanuel, op. cit.)--->This was in reference to information on pages 20-21 concerning the Queen's taste in all things Scottish giving rise to certain fashion in the 1850's.