Tea at Trianon: Victorian Jewelry

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Thursday, July 28, 2022

Victorian Jewelry

From Antique Trader:

AT: How do you determine a piece of jewelry is from the Victorian era?
RN: The Victorians had very distinctive styles when it came to their jewelry. Pieces tend to be larger, darker, ‘heavier,’ than the styles before or after the Victorian period. Large cameo brooches worn at the throat come to mind. Mourning jewelry in particular tends to be distinctive and identifiable because pieces are typically black, often with hair or photo compartments. Victorian jewelry can be extremely ornate, what we think of as gothic in style. Besides these aesthetic considerations, I identify Victorian jewelry based on its construction and the materials used.
AT: What advice do you have to help people avoid buying a fake or reproduction piece?
RN: It’s good to have a handle on what kinds of materials were used in the Victorian era as well as how pieces were constructed. Oftentimes simply looking at the back of a piece and its hardware can tell you a lot about when a piece was actually made. Brooches did not really have rollover locking clasps until the early 20th century, so if you look at the back of a brooch and see a rollover clasp, it’s probably not Victorian, unless you can see evidence that the clasp is a replacement of the original ‘C-clasp.’ When I am buying pieces online, I will usually avoid listings that don’t show the back of a piece. It is just too hard to tell from photographs what is genuine when you don’t have a complete picture of the piece and its construction or hardware. As you handle more and more pieces, you will develop a better instinct and notice patterns in construction. A celluloid cameo may look very detailed and beautiful, but with experience you will immediately know the difference between celluloid (an early plastic) and actual carved shell. (Read more.)