Jewelry & Adornment

Most of what comes through this section was made to be worn close and then kept. A mourning brooch with plaited hair under glass, a locket with the photograph still in it, a ring engraved with a name and a date. Sentiment was the point, and it is the reason the pieces survived.

We look for jewellery that still carries its evidence. An engraved initial. A hallmark, or the lack of one, which says something on its own about gold-filled and pinchbeck work. A clasp of the kind fitted in one particular decade. Hairwork gets a second look every time, because it was made at kitchen tables as often as by jewellers and the difference shows under a loupe.

Dating leans on what the metal says. British silver and gold carry a date letter that names the assay year. A registered design carries a mark that dates it. Without either we read the construction, the fittings and the style, and the card says which of those we used. Confidence is marked Documented, Attributed or Our reading, and Our reading appears here more often than we would like, because so much jewellery was made by hands nobody recorded. The card page explains each grade.

Every piece is described after handling, flaws named. Ships anywhere in the United States, and the card comes in the box.