Victorian Topaz Sash Pin Brooch- Topaz Rhinestones, Floral Design

Description

This large, stunning brooch has a heavyweight brass body, accented with bezel-set topaz stones. The large oval stone is opened-backed. We call this type of brooch a sash pin, which were popular in the Victorian and Edwardian eras, to attach a belt or sash at the waist or shoulder. They often have designs of flowers, birds and insects. This one has a handsome and quite angular floral and leaf design.
The brooch measures about 2 7/8" x 2". It is heavyweight with a pretty thick pin, so you should not attempt to pin it to finer fabrics. It's more suitable to wear on a sturdy fabric, like on a coat. Another feature of jewelry this age is that the pin hardware is usually a bit longer than we're used to, so you'll want to pin it in a spot where you don't scratch yourself on the pin (I speak from experience).
Condition is mostly excellent with negligible wear to the stones. The C-clasp hardware functions just fine. You can see where there is this sort of black buildup on the brass, concentrated around the crevices on the floral design and also on the back. It almost looks like part of the design, but it's not. Oddly, it does give a bit of depth the look. The piece could stand a cleaning, but I imagine the dark spots would remain.