For the production of high-quality jewelry replicas, not only the intensive study and mastery of historical goldsmith techniques are absolutely necessary, but also the reproduction of a patina that is as convincing as possible. Ultimately depends on a successful Patination but it depends on how close you ultimately want to get to the desired charisma of the antique models.
Many modern replicas may have been implemented with a great deal of craftsmanship, but disappointingly remain far behind the charm of real medieval goldsmith objects because of the modern surfaces and the associated “cold” appearance.
We have therefore always asked ourselves how far one should and can really go on the subject of "artificial aging". The current highlight of these considerations is the production of an almandine disc brooch with real almandine, a sapphire and a clearly pronounced patina.
Our replica was handcrafted from 925/- sterling silver with pearl wire surrounding it. The faithful ones Almandine token (thin slices of red garnets) were specially cut for this fibula from suitable raw stones, then evenly ground flat and then individually fitted into the 12 cells of the fibula. As with the historical models, all almandines were underlaid with a self-made and separately fitted wafer foil made of 999/- fine gold.
The decoration of the central disc of the brooch made of corded wire was borrowed from historical models and the beautiful small sapphire was then set there. On the back there is a brooch that is true to the original, i.e. a pin.
Now came - from our point of view - the top class: the patination. For this purpose, the gold-plated silver was alternately blackened and then slightly worn away again, some almandines were provided with the typical stress cracks and even flaking, and last but not least the central sapphire was treated with tiny small flaking on its surface, which is normally only caused by the impact of mineral dust particles in of the room air over the course of many hundreds of years on a precious stone.
In our opinion, the result comes very close to the medieval models as found. Of course, the fibula has our studio stamps and a silver content stamp on the back to clearly identify the object as a modern replica.
