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I always say the best part of my job is the shopping. I had the good fortune today to purchase a fabulous little collection of Victorian Era jewelry, handbags, watches, and accessory items from an estate.
The piece pictured above is a Victorian Era Pinchbeck Mourning brooch. Pinchbeck is a type of metal alloy composed of copper and zinc invented in the 18th century as an imitation of gold. This type of jewelry is also referred to as "Hair Jewelry". The floral decoration is composed of human hair, gold thread, and seed pearls. Hair was used in 17th century mourning jewelry. This tradition was later revived in the 19th century for use in both mourning pieces (for the dead) and in sentimental or token of affection pieces (for the living). This piece is double sided. There is a piece of black fabric behind glass on the back. This piece is likely to be a mourning piece.
The piece below is also a piece of Victorian mourning jewelry. This is also composed of pinchbeck, with an overlay of black enamel and a plaited section of hair behind glass. The use of of black enamel indicates mourning versus sentiment/token.
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More this week.....
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