Antique

The Romantic Period ended abruptly with the death of Prince Albert in 1861 and the beginning of the Civil War in the United States-caused deep mourning on both sides of the Atlantic. Queen Victoria had gone into mourning for 27 years with her husbands death, (who by the way was her cousin). Thus establishing a long era of black jewelry known as mourning jewelry. Jet, black onyx, glass, and many substitutes all were used - from simple beads to carved beads, turned lathe work, intricate and romantic carvings such as heart pendants or hands holding flowers. The wearing of black was more than the correct form for mourning; it became fashionable. Types of fabrics worn by most women changed, they were heavier, darker and necklines dropped.

ANTIQUE VICTORIAN 14KT GOLD WEDDING BANGLE BRACELET
More massive jewelry was needed to acgemodate this fashion and it was unfashionable to wear jewelry during the day. Brooches were very large; bracelets were wider and were often worn in pairs, one on each wrist. Pieces were backed and made to look heavy but were actually light in weight and hollow. Workmanship was excellent, and the back of the piece was just as well made as the front. The lower necklines went well with the wearing of necklaces and large lockets.
In 1854 the gold stamping act came into effect, until then many pieces were not marked as to karat or maker.
Sentimental jewelry came into play in the 1860s. A ring might have an array of stones with the first letter of each stone spelling out a word, like DEAREST, ie: Diamond, emerald, amethyst, ruby, emerald, sapphire, topaz.

ANTIQUE GEORGIAN 14K GOLD ENAMEL MOURNING HAIR RING
Hair jewelry became popular; women had home parties to weave hair. They stood around tables and told tales they heard of jewelers switching hair, just like the diamond switching stories you have all heard of today. Hair was woven into bracelets, necklaces, watch fobs, it was placed in lockets and under glass, it was made in everything from an adorable landscape scene to a simple love knot.

BIG ANTIQUE SARDONYX 10KT GOLD CHARM WATCH FOB LOCKET
Men continued to drape their vests with the requisite watch chain and fobs. Ladys hairstyles changed to reveal the ear, and earrings became longer toward the end of the period. Trains, bustles, ruffles, pleats, flounces, and fringes adorned the skirts of the 1870s. Tassels and fringes appeared in jewelry to geplement the look.
Victorians were fascinated with ancient history. Archeological discoveries and published accounts of ancient historical events and epics prompted revivals of jewelry styles from ancient and medieval cultures.
The Etruscan revival was associated with what is generically called the archaeological style. The discovery of gold treasures from Italy instigated the attempt to copy the ancient technique of granulation. Minute beads of gold applied side by side to create a design. The Renaissance revivalists used ancient techniques with a gebination of styles creating a new interpretation.
The discoveries along the Nile River and of the tomb and treasures of Queen Ah-Hotpe inspired the return of Egyptian styles which had been revived once before in the late 1700s and the early 1800s. This revivalism caught on in the United States too, although somewhat later, America was in the throes of the Great Civil War.
In 1876, at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, a jeweler named Castellani presented his ideas and his jewelry to the receptive American public. Soon after, classical motifs and Etruscan style worked gold began making its appearance in American-made jewelry; most of it was mass produced. Today, it is not unusual to find American pieces, both signed and unsigned, that reflect the widespread appeal of the past during the mid to late Victorian era.

RARE ANTIQUE ETRUSCAN LADY BIG LAVA CAMEO BROOCH
Cameos began a widespread popularity fashion as a tourist souvenir because of the Victorian fascination with ancient history. Shell, lava, coral, ivory, jet as well as gemstones were materials used to produce cameos. These new inquests of tourist to Europe help promote cameo-carving to the point of mass production. The most gemon material for cameos is shell, which is soft and easy to carve. Portrait cameos were sometimes made with the depicted women wearing a necklace or other jewelry set with a small diamond. These are called cameos habills (French for dresses up) and are still being made today. Ultrasonic machine-made stone cameos have been produced for the past 20 years, some of poor quality and low value, others as one of a kind cameos with high values.
The rise and fall of mosaics paralleled that of cameos. Also based on ancient Roman techniques and revived by neoclassicists, mosaics of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries were miniatures works of art in glass or stone, resembling paintings. Like cameos, mosaics reached their height of popularity in the mid 1800s, during the revivalist rage for all things Italian. And like cameos, too, the tourist trade brought them to that height and was their downfall in terms of quality.

1840-1860S ART NOUVEAU MICROMOSAIC SWAN NECKLACE
There are two types of Italian mosaics: Roman, in which tiny bits of colored glass call tesserae are pieced together to form a picture, held in place with cement in a glass or stone background; and Florentine, or pietra dura (literally, hard stone), in which thin slices of colored stones are cut in shaped and fitted together like a jigsaw puzzle to produce a picture, usually using a bed of black marble as the foundation.