Thursday 15 April 2010

Seb's Nana's beautiful mourning jewellery collection..

Right, so I have to admit how jealous of my boyfriends Nana I am for one simple reason..she owns THESE.......


Opal, 18k gold, enamel.



This beautiful gold brooch reads "Stanley" on the back and is part of a pair. These could have been made to commemmorate the lives of two brothers, not nessessarily because they died, the Victorians also commissioned jewellery for the birth of family and friends aswell as to mourn.




This is a very sweet brooch containing plaited hair and a little picture of the lady it belonged too. No engraving on the brooch but it immaculate condition and I love how happy the lady looks.



This ring is beautiful and really typical of a mourning piece. The gold band is engraved with a Greek keywork pattern that would have been popular in earlier Victorian work. From the late Georgians through to the Victorians designers were heavily influenced by the romanticism of the ancient Greek architecture such as collumns and stone engravings. There is also fine hairwork woven through the band, amazingly constructed.


This is a brooch that is made from the material that opitomised the Victorians fascination with Mourning. Jet was found in Whitby and was very easily carved due to it's fossilised-wood state. It was produced in mass to portray Victorians people's loss and could be found in mourning warehouses across London. This means is wasn't often personalised but meant that lower classes could express their grief through adornment.

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