Sand Filled Hand Painted Shell Brooch with Oriental Hunting Scene

by Phyllis
(Palestine, Illinois)

Hi, I have a vintage brooch that I am pretty sure is a hand painted, one of a kind piece. It measures just over 1.5" diameter and is made up of a piece of round shell mounted into a silver tone metal backing. The mounting is flat on the back and has a tiny silver bead rim. The shell is round and fits right down into the rim but there must be a gap or two as tiny grains of sand seep out from around the beaded edge. I know some Indian silver/turquoise jewelry is filled with sand, but this doesn't look Native American.

The top of the shell is not symetrical, it's sort of lumpy. The painting is definately done by hand and shows four horseback riders with swords hunting and the many little deer that are running amongst the horses.

The top of the painted shell looks like it was varnished. The pin clasp on the back is very simplistic and kind of crude, the metal mounting doesn't look like silver or anything special, but the shell is awesome!!! Any ideas of price, age, maker, country of origin would be very helpful.

I have attached pics. Thanks, Phyllis
I have lots of great pics of this piece if you are interested.