Kiddie Kraft Appraisal

Vintage Kiddie Kraft Gold-Filled Floating Opal Pendant

This is a vintage 'floating opal' charm or pendant manufactured by Kiddie Kraft, a division of Marathon Co. known for high-quality children's and small-scale jewelry. The item features a small clear glass orb, known as a 'floating opal' style, which traditionally contains small opal chips suspended in glycerin or oil to enhance their prismatic play-of-color. The metal components are gold-filled, displaying a rich yellow-gold hue. A distinctive feature of this piece is the ornate, elongated bale which is stamped with the 'KIDDIE KRAFT' maker's mark and '1/20 12K G.F.', indicating it is composed of 12-karat gold filling over a base metal. The orb is held by a delicate wire-form cage that terminates in a loop connecting to the stamped decorative bale. This piece likely dates from the mid-20th century, approximately the 1940s to 1950s, a period when floating opal jewelry was highly fashionable. The construction shows fine craftsmanship typical of Marathon Co. products. Visible condition includes a slight patina on the gold-filled surfaces and some age-related clouding within the glass bulb, which is common for liquid-filled jewelry of this age. The hardware appears intact and the structural integrity of the glass orb is sound with no visible chips or cracks.