GAMING PENDANT We're in 18th-century China. The gambling tables are crowded. The players are using gaming counters handcrafted by artisans of the country for use in scoring and bidding in card games. The era in which they lived was circa 1700 up to circa 1840. Most of these gaming counters bore a coat of arms, crest, or monograms of a family, or an individual. Some also depicted Chinese scenes and figures, or representations of flowers, animals, or insects. The one you are all about to see, encircled in gold and adorned with eight pearls, belonged, I presume, to the section that described a figure of a family member. There are, at times, many facts that can be gleaned when researching jewelry history. And with those facts are their brethren, the extrapolators who glean information where none exists. I am a member in good standing with these people. The size of this 19-karat gold hammered finish framed pendant with the gambling counter center is 49 mm vertically by 49 mm across. That is roughly a bit over 1.929 inches across by 1.929 inches vertically. I could have, and did in fact, make the central figure clearer by taking a bit from here and a bit from there and bibbity bobbety boo, you now have a clearer image, though it would not be the exact original which now resides in the upper left hand corner of the main image for those of you who crave originality. Nevertheless, I kept this altered image as it now is, flawed as it may be as it was gleaned, with some enhancing light changes, which were then inserted where they were needed.