I have waited to read everyone comments. They are always so informative and as I look at this sight before my Face Book page, I have enjoyed often how well informed everyone is on at least something or know where to find the information.
This item from a jewellers point of view is about the 20's or 30's when often jewellery was remade out of very little as war had decimated so much. The I could be well wrong as it was even worse during the W W 2.
You see this item has been made by someone not fully trained or knowledgeable. The plate is badly cut out and the box setting quite well done. Odd. ! the soldering is not good and the engraving very much what a jeweller would do not an engraver. The marcasite is set 2 different ways as though they tried one method and went back to a solid back rather than one for cut stone. You see they have drilled out some of the settings as if they were going to put cut stones in to the mount and left room for the point of the stone with the beveled depth. I think this was because the cut stone were probably too deep for the metal to allow for beads to be engraved up to hold the stone often the cut past real stones are of different depths.it as if they didn't want to put in claws. The marcasite as we know is flat backed but usually facetted or bevelled edged. This make is easier for the person setting to either use the bed method or bead and glue method.used here. It is a mixture of both which is quite odd. When you turn the brooch over you can see this all quite clearly. The milling has not been put on evenly also, very hit and miss. The box setting holding the glass, which I think may be molded as there appears from your picture to be of mainly very rounded depths. No very bright sharp edges catching the light. Like you would see on cut and sand blasted crystal for example. The back plate is over sized for the item , totally unnecessary for the pieces even if you wear just gluing it . you would have a finer one that did not in any way back shadow the pattern of the glass. The corner would have been broken off when the put the stone in to the bezel, note what looks like a crack on the opposite corner.
The you have the fact that it has been something else at one time. , note the corner solder marks that have been filed down. These have had pegged wires you will not of a different colour even. So this pieces has had several lives I would think. The pins is an after thought at some stage. They didn't even bother to clean it up properly alas from it's previous life. The plates that it was attached to make this clear. the one under the catch has not been cut to size let alone filed down to fir unseen from the side. But. a nice item that could do with some TLC, stone replacement, removing the glass, cleaning away the old glue and polishing the tarnish of the edge. The glue only replaced around the upright edge not the back time after the silver plating.and yes a flash of pure silver to cover the pins and freshen the whole thing (before the marcasite and glass is reset of course),this of course if someone intends to wear it. How you intend to sell it of course is a different thing. Charm. But the time facture , well I don't know so many things havae been done to this item.
Charm Affair or Charm
