Victorian Brooch | ||
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Posted 10 years ago
freiheit
(1224 items)
This is my first Whitby jet jewelry - at least this is what I believed.
Turned out I was wrong and I have to look a little harder to find one!
Nevertheless I learned something: It is a pretty old piece of jewelry. Based on the registration mark it must be made no later than the mid 1880's. The brooch has a little bit of damage on one side but I think that for a piece that is over 100 years old it is in pretty good shape.
Thanks for looking:)
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Thanks for the post! I'll keep an eye out for that. I'd never heard of it, but it's very cool and the mark is quite unique.
Hi, the mark is a Victorian registration mark. Look online & using the mark, you'll be able to find out the date it was made. It probably has the is mark on it because it's made from some man made material a bit like chip board, not jet.
Also, the screws indicate that its not jet, jet would crack with screws. Jet is usually drilled, then the fixings glued.
The design looks like it's moulded (not carved like jet), probably from a composite material. Have a look where it's chipped, if it's a bit flaky, then its made from a material thats made from wood particles and glue, commonly used to imitate jet.
There's an excellent pamphlet style book on jet published by Shire publications which is really good for identifying jet and its imitations.
Thanks for your information, Jewels1900. After reading your comments, I believe that my pin is not Whitby jet. I changed my heading accordingly. The only thing I am sure about so far is that the pin is old and, to the best of my limited knowledge, dates to the Victorian period.
I checked my pin but there is no flaking of any kind. I don't think it has been made of wood particles and glue because it appears too smooth, even where it is chipped.
I found this listing on line and I can see some similarities: https://www.etsy.com/listing/126204309/antique-vulcanite-brooch-pin-victorian?ref=market , however, without seeing the real thing it's hard to compare one with the other. What do you think?
I have a brooch posted that seems to be Victorian, too, and, although the colour is different, the texture of the back is very similar to my black one http://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/82405-cameo--very-old-possibly-early-plastic
I guess, until I learn more about my pin, all I am going to say is that it is old.
In the mean time I will follow your lead about the registration mark and see if I can get my hands on the book.
Once angain many thanks,
Gudrun
It's very pretty, I love this piece! It's got that Victorian look for sure.
Thanks a lot, shareurpassion:)
This pin is defiantly Victorian. They stopped using those marks in the 1880's (I think, not 100% but maybe 1887). The maker thought that there was something special either about the design, or the materials, to go to the trouble of registering it.
I don't think its vulcanite (a vulcanised rubber that was developed in the 1880's or so), but you can pick vulcanite. It's moulded, goes a brown/khaki colour when exposed to sunlight for long periods of time and smells a little like rubber.
It may be pressed horn which was also common during this period. Horn is smooth when chipped and looks a little brownish and translucent around the edges when held up to light. It's in its natural dark brown colour, but when dense, looks black.
Or, it could be some other man made synthetic which would account for the registration.
I used to collect jet for a while, its a fascinating period of jewellery, not alway mooring either. Like scottish pebble jewellery, it was made popular by Victoria (who did wear it in mourning for Albert). But you can also find many love tokens in jet as well, in addition to all sorts of other fashionable styles, cameos, language of flowers etc. Some of my favourites are the snakes eating their own tails. Very cool.