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O.B. Arts & Crafts sterling pin

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Author	Topic: O.B. Arts & Crafts sterling pin
vathek Posts: 966 Registered: Jun 99	posted 11-02-2003 03:10 PM I have this nicely done arts & crafts sterling pin with blister pearl and applied granulation marked only O.B. sterling. Has anyone seen other pieces with this mark? thanks. IP: Logged
Patrick Vyvyan Posts: 640 Registered: May 2003	posted 11-02-2003 03:28 PM A ring (now sold) can be seen here: quote: Starstruck Moon glow & Sterling Ring Just stunning sterling ring with center elongated stone. I'm really not sure what this stone is much like a moonstone in a rich pink color when held at different angles in the light there are shining "stars" glowing inside it in a blue/purple shade. Bezel set with a scalloped edge and on both sides of the band extra fine filigree work. Really lovely piece of workmanship!. Signed inside OB.Sterling.(Maybe Otsby Barton Co.-Providence, R.I. but not positive) Approx. Size 6. The seller suggests a possible attribution to Otsby Barton Co. Providence, R.I. IP: Logged
Paul Lemieux Posts: 1792 Registered: Apr 2000	posted 11-03-2003 12:53 AM I believe I have seen that mark before on similar baroque pearl pins. I do not know whose it is. Probably a small silversmithy somewhere. There were many small (now unidentified) shops that produced handsome Arts and Crafts jewelry, often with baroque pearls, in the first 15-20 years of the last century. Interestingly, the ring and brooch are very different in style and make. I wouldn't be surprised if they were made by different makers. The marks could be different, unfortunately, for the ring we can only rely on the auction description (always a beacon of truth) for what the mark actually is. Specifically: the ring's shank is one machine-stamped piece, the stone being set in a bezel made of prefabricated bezel wire. Also the stone is an artificial "jelly opal" (glass). Conversely, the pin is hand made, from the floral/foliate decoration to the pearl's setting. The ring seems to be 1930s-1940s, versus 1900-1915 for the pin. IP: Logged
vathek Posts: 966 Registered: Jun 99	posted 11-04-2003 08:02 AM I have seen pieces similar to the ring with the OB mark, but as said, it's so different in style and construction it's hard to believe it's the same firm, unless it started out small, making hand-crafted pieces and became more commercial. I can't find any info about Otsby Barton on the web btw. IP: Logged
Patrick Vyvyan Posts: 640 Registered: May 2003	posted 11-04-2003 08:14 AM Likewise, I can find nothing about Otsby Barton. However there is a Rhode Island company Ostby Barton which NOW makes electical components. Perhaps they have an earlier history? IP: Logged
Paul Lemieux Posts: 1792 Registered: Apr 2000	posted 11-04-2003 10:27 AM According to Rainwater, Ostby-Barton of Providence made gold rings and was at one time the world's largest gold ring manufacturer. No mention of silver rings, but the ring pictured in this forum seems typical of something that would have come from such a manufacturer (machine stamped parts, not bad quality). It must just be that the pearl pin was made by a small workshop whose initials also happened to be OB. I am pretty sure that Ostby Barton did not make the brooch. [This message has been edited by Paul Lemieux (edited 11-04-2003).] IP: Logged

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