A selection of my collection

[glitterata]

My sweet husband gave me a tripod for the camera, so I was able to take some good sharp pix. I started posting in Colored Stones, but some of these jewels aren''t stones at all, so I thought I should continue here.

 

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I'm starting with a couple of cameos. I love cameos, as you can tell from my avatar. This one's late Victorian.

 

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Here''s another Victorian cameo. This one''s tiny, smaller than a dime.

 

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I love weird Victorian things, the weirder the better. Here''s a bracelet made of human hair, from at least two different people. This was a common way for people to keep a memento of loved ones, especially before photography was common (but after, too).

 

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Here''s another hair bracelet, with two different colors of hair. The clasp is a locket that opens to show another kind of hair, I think--it might be one of the first two, though. That''ll be the next picture.

 

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And the next one will show the other side of the bracelet.

 

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Isn''t it amazing the way the hair is woven? They used a system of bobbins to do it, like lacemaking.

 

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Here are three Victorian pins, two with photos and two with hair. Confused? One of them has both a photo and hair. The middle photo is a tintype, I believe.

 

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Here''s one of my very favorite pairs of earrings. They''re made of steel wire and cut steel beads, with gilded brass ear wires. They''re from the first half of the 19th century, possibly German or English. They came with a similar brooch.

 

[movie zombie]

love those earrings!

peace, movie zombie

 

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LOL...Glitterata: You''ve got me jumping all over PS admiring your fabulous collection!

I LOVE that first cameo you posted, and the wire earrings, those incredible hair bracelets, the garnet set and sort of bypass opal ring over on Colored Gemstones...I could go on and on!

GREAT collection. I''m so glad your hubby got you a tripod!

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[glitterata]

Thanks, Widget. You know how much I adore YOUR collection.

 

[glitterata]

Here, Widget, this is for you. A collection of Victorian odds and ends I have on my wall--and occasionally on my ears, fingers, collars, etc. The long black earrings are jet. There are various mother-of-pearl and ivory or bone hand brooches. The large odd thing in the middle is a frame from a mid-Victorian miniature or photo.

 

[glitterata]

Here''s a closer look at the picture agate brooch in that collection. This one isn''t actually Victorian, but I love the way the agate looks like a landscape with trees.

 

[Camellia]

Wow Glitterata! Your pics made me feel as if you''d opened your jewellery box for me to have a play. Thanks for sharing!

 

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glitterata:

Here, Widget, this is for you.

I''m so honored!

Hee hee...I was just getting ready to ask you about the oval brooch under the frame, then I scrolled down ...and there it was! How neat!

I love the ''hand'' brooches...and is that a jet and pearl bar pin? That would look great on my horsey niece to hold down her ascot when she''s in her full riding habit!

Glitterata...could you remind me exactly what is "jet"? I know it was popular during that long period when Victoria was in mourning and wore black all the time. I know it''s not onyx...it isn''t wood, is it? I used to know, but being an antique myself, I''ve forgotten...

Great collection, my dear....you''ve been holding out on us!

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[thebanjodog]

lovely things. i am an antique jewelry nut myself. thanks. banjo

 

[DiaDiva]

glitterata, I love your amazing Victorian collection. Please continue to share any new acquisitions with us.

 

[AndyRosse]

Wow, amazing collection!!! I LOVE them all!

 

[Blue824]

Vey cool collection! So glad you were able to take the great pictures to share!

Now here''s my question, do you wear the pieces made out of hair or do you just collect them? I never even knew about that, very interesting...

 

[glitterata]

Thanks for the kind words, everybody. It''s very nice to have fellow jewelry nuts to share my strange things with. I''m hoping my example will bring other collectors of strange old things out of lurkdom.

Widget, jet is a sort of fossilized wood related to coal. It''s black, lightweight, and brittle.

Blue, I occasionally wear the hair bracelets, but they''re very itchy. Sort of like wearing hair shirts on your wrists. Also very fragile. I do wear the hair brooches; I have several others I haven''t taken pictures of. I also have a few clasps from hair bracelets, including one in the top middle of that framed collection of odds and ends; I''m planning to make a bracelet of my own hair with one of them some day. Many people find the idea of hair jewelry really, really icky, but I think it''s cool to have objects that somebody cherished so much.

 

[Blue824]

Date: 9/6/2005 12:28:00 AM
Author: glitterata

Blue, I occasionally wear the hair bracelets, but they''re very itchy. Sort of like wearing hair shirts on your wrists. Also very fragile. I do wear the hair brooches; I have several others I haven''t taken pictures of. I also have a few clasps from hair bracelets, including one in the top middle of that framed collection of odds and ends; I''m planning to make a bracelet of my own hair with one of them some day. Many people find the idea of hair jewelry really, really icky, but I think it''s cool to have objects that somebody cherished so much.

Yeah, I''m not sure how I''d feel about wearing them, but I found them to be very interesting! I also thought they''d be fragile & itchy...sort of looked like it from the pictures. I went online and read about how they weren''t just for mourning, but given as momentos since there were no photographs at that time. I love learning new random things like that though. Thanks for sharing some of your collection!

 

[ame]

Ok...that''s jus weird. But Im surprisingly intrigued...you are right about the weaving...very unique.

 

[glitterata]

Popping back in to post another of my favorite Victorian sets. This is a pair of earrings and a matching brooch I bought at a Goodwill, believe it or not. I love it when I can indulge my jewelry passion and give money to a good cause at the same time.

They''re gold, with black and white enamel, I''m guessing from the 1870s. The shape of the earrings is very flattering. I believe the brooch is missing a dangly piece in the center.

 

[glitterata]

And here are the earrings hanging on the edge of a cordial glass.

 

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And here''s that set of steel wire jewelry, with the brooch as well as the earrings this time.

 

[glitterata]

In case anybody was curious about the back of that brooch--I know I always want to see the backs of pieces. If anybody knows anything about the history of this kind of jewelry, I'd love to hear it. One dealer in Victorian jewelry told me the wire was made in Germany but the jewelry itself was too fine to be German from that period, and was probably English. I know acorns were an English motif, so that makes sense to me, but this is all guesswork and I'd love to know something more definite. The set came from a New England estate.

 

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Author: glitterata
If anybody knows anything about the history of this kind of jewelry, I''d love to hear it.

glitterata: I''m fascinated by that metal jewelry...I''d never seen any think like it!

I got out my ''bible'': Bennett and Mascetti''s Understanding Jewellery, and found this...I wonder if your pieces are examples of what they call: "Berlin Iron".

Apparently around 1814 patriotic Prussian ladies were asked to turn in their gold trinkets to help support rebellion against Napoleonic occupation, and got in return some sort of symbolic metal jewelry often with medallions inscribed: "I gave gold for iron". So- called "Berlin Iron" became fashionable and remained so up until the middle of the century... After the war it was produced elsewhere in Europe as well, with styles being adapted to current tastes.

Here''s a picture of a necklace I scanned from the book:

Do you think your pieces might be examples of "Berlin Iron"?

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BTW...while I was going through my book I found a picture of an assortment of "hands" similar to yours. But they were clasps for necklaces.

Are your ''hands'' brooches or necklace clasps?

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[glitterata]

Interesting! I would love to see hand clasps. I believe I once saw a hair necklace or watch chain with hand-shaped findings. But my hand pieces are brooches, not clasps. I have three mother-of-pearl ones and one made of ivory or bone.

I don''t think my wire jewelry is Berlin ironwork--that''s cast, not woven from wire. I''ve seen items similar to mine that were called "Silesian wire work", but there''s not all that much info out there about it, and what I''ve found is contradictory. Is the jewelry Silesian, or just the wire? Where was it made? Who bought it? Was it mourning jewelry? When exactly was it popular? That sort of question.