Sweetheart Brooches

[Drummajor]

G'day to all,
I have been a member for a while now and I enjoy reading all the other posts, I don't contribute many items myself as I am a bit lost with all this. However, I hope this post gets through, I don't know if it's in the right area, but I hope some of you knowledgable people can help me. My question is concerning Sweetheart brooches. I have purchased quite a few of these from a dealer in Scotland, (I only collect Scottish) they are hallmarked silver (1915) and some gold, mostly the round tortise shell ones. My question is, is there a chance that some might be fake, the only reason I ask is that my understanding of sweetheart brooches is that they were made in the trenches, if this is so, where would they get gold, silver and tortise shell?
Hope someone can help me here.
Cheers from Australia.

[davec2]

Hello Drummajor,

I can not vouch for whether the sweetheart brooches were made in the trenches or not, I would believe, as in the case of mine, that they were made by Jewellers, there is no way that a badge could be worked on so intricately and then re-gilded for example, by a squaddie waiting to go over the top, so to speak, all the best,

Dave.

[engr9266]

There is a booklet called "Military Sweetheart Brooches" by K.W. JARMIN.
ISBN 0 9507543 0 7 that might help or contact Sally BOSLEY in the UK at

The Old Royal Military College
Marlow Buckinghamshire SL7 2BS
Tel: 01628 488188 Fax: 01628 488111
www.bosleys.net
I hope this helps you.
Jerry

[wright241]

Originally Posted by Drummajor

G'day to all,
I have been a member for a while now and I enjoy reading all the other posts, I don't contribute many items myself as I am a bit lost with all this. However, I hope this post gets through, I don't know if it's in the right area, but I hope some of you knowledgable people can help me. My question is concerning Sweetheart brooches. I have purchased quite a few of these from a dealer in Scotland, (I only collect Scottish) they are hallmarked silver (1915) and some gold, mostly the round tortise shell ones. My question is, is there a chance that some might be fake, the only reason I ask is that my understanding of sweetheart brooches is that they were made in the trenches, if this is so, where would they get gold, silver and tortise shell?
Hope someone can help me here.
Cheers from Australia.

Totally agree with DaveC on this. All sweetheart brooches do not necessarily have hallmarks - have a quick search on the forum as this has
been much discussed before - I doubt that 'trench art' extended into
brooches - although I am sure that some squaddies may have indulged.
In the main they are all made by jewellers etc.

[yorkie]

hi i have a booklet which i bought secondhand called MILITARY SWEETHEARTS by PAMELA M. CAUNT. subtitled _a guide for collectors_.
published 1994 item no isbn 0 9523709 0 5. which would i am sure be of help to you i have scanned two old copies of adverts reprinted in the booklet from jewellers advertising their wares in this case sweetheart badges made of silver and gold and it says fully enamelled . i apologise for the quality of the scans as they were not that clear in the booklet either . andy.

[Drummajor]

Thanks very much to all who replied to my query on sweetheart brooches, I understand a lot more about them now. I did also contact a dealer here in Australia, he tells me that a lot of them still look new because they would have probably been kept in jewelry boxes etc.
Cheers from Australia. Drummajor. (Phil)

[Lancer 17]

Originally Posted by yorkie

hi i have a booklet which i bought secondhand called MILITARY SWEETHEARTS by PAMELA M. CAUNT. subtitled _a guide for collectors_.
published 1994 item no isbn 0 9523709 0 5. which would i am sure be of help to you i have scanned two old copies of adverts reprinted in the booklet from jewellers advertising their wares in this case sweetheart badges made of silver and gold and it says fully enamelled . i apologise for the quality of the scans as they were not that clear in the booklet either . andy.

G'day Phil

Having seen the above if you want to get a copy of this book do a Google search on ABE Books, type in the name and ISBN number and see what comes up this is a great site for any book.

The sweethearts that I have are 2 British cavlrey one in stirling silver and the other silver and blue enamel. They are definately made in the trenches! One is Queeen Vic. I also have two small rising suns hand made from mother of pearl shell.

Hope this helps

Cheers.

Phil.

[2LBH]

Hi all,
if it can help, here is an example of several L&BH sweetheart brooches from my little collection. None of them are hallmarked.
Phil

[wright241]

I can't recall the date off the top of my head but don't forget that private commission gold jewelry made before (something like) the mid-1970's did not have to have one. I have a few like this.

[kingsley]

I believe that very few sweetheart badges were ever made in the trenches by the soldiers themselves. There are MOP, tortoiseshell, gold, silver, enamel etc which show obvious manufacture by individual jewellers right around the world.
I only collect Australian rising suns but have seen a lot of British ones in my travels. I have seen some multiples of the same design which indicates that jewellers turned them out in batches in both world wars. The Jerusalem ones are interesting: some MOP and silver filigree of different designs, often marked Jerusalem. Others might well be "one off" but you can't really tell until you see two.
The British booklet series is very good, only have one example, but there is nothing published on Australian or NZ as far as I know. On the Antiques Roadshow a few years ago they featured an incredible collection of several hundred enamelled CEF sweethearts, never even seen one.