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Someone in my family came across a cross of unknown origin. We thought the material might be silver and looked for a stamp / mark. We found something... but we are not able to identify it.

Please take a look at the following photos.

Maybe some of you good people are able to tell us more about the origin and/or the material. Online sources where we might be able to find something ourselves are also appreciated.

Thanks : )

front

back

the mark

the mark under a microscope

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  • If it helps you, Google Image search suggests that it might be the eye of a crocodile. (not a serious comment).
    – gktscrk
    Jun 3, 2020 at 17:56
  • I would suspect that it comes from some Viking forge. The later Vikings typically made crosses from metals. If you can find the date for it, and try to figure out if it was made in Ireland or Scandinavia, then I could help narrow it down.
    – user44626
    Jun 3, 2020 at 19:10
  • I would suspect it comes from the Late Viking period. Either Scandinavia, Viking Ireland, or Iceland. Please try to do a carbon dating test to try to figure out what year it was made in. If you are interested, you can also figure out the ionic compound to figure out what part of the world it was forged in.
    – user44626
    Jun 3, 2020 at 19:16
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    It looks to me like a modern casting, primarily the hollow back. It doesn't have enough wear to be very old. The mark looks like a manufacturer's mark and not like the sort of hallmarks I'd expect in a silver object from my part of the world.
    – RedGrittyBrick
    Jun 3, 2020 at 19:25
  • Turn the bottom image upside down. The letters gv clearly appear. This is modern -- @justCal's answer is the correct one.
    – Spencer
    Jun 3, 2020 at 22:32

1 Answer 1

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Your piece is from a creator by the name Gilles or Guy Vidal.

You can find several pieces for sale around the web, with one, Poppy' Vintage Clothing selling an item labelled as

GILLES GUY VIDAL BRUTALIST SUN PENDANT NECKLACE MODERNIST ABSTRACT PEWTER 1960S

This page shows a good picture of the backside with the makers mark, a gv:

enter image description here

Another site, a silver discussion forum, the Silver Salon Forums, had a question concerning your mark here. The response mentions that the jeweler used an alloy of pewter and sterling , worked predominately in the 60s and 70s, and was out of Montreal Canada.

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